If You Live in Washington State . . . .

Let our legislators know that you support the Domestic Partnership bill that is being discussed today in the Senate. According to Equal Rights Washington, "Passage of the Domestic Parnership Bill will bring vital protections to thousands of LGBT couples, and seniors at times of greatest vulnerablity. Some of these protections include automatic hospital visitation and inheritance rights; and the right to make burial decisions." Go here to send a letter to your legislators to let them know of your support for this important piece of legislation. This bill would provide the following protections for same sex partners (as well as some heterosexual unmarried partners):

• Couples wishing to obtain domestic partnerships must meet all of the following criteria:
• Share a common residence,
• Be at least 18 years of age,
• Not be married to another person or in a domestic partnership with anyone else,
• Be capable of consenting to the relationship,
• Not be blood relations, and
• Be either members of the same sex or if, in a heterosexual partnership, have one individual be at least 62 years of age.

• Domestic partnerships are registered with the Secretary of State.

• Domestic partnerships created at the local level are not automatically added to the state registry. Domestic partnerships created at the state level may be transferred to the local level with the couples’ consent, so long as all the local criteria for domestic partners are met.

• Domestic partnerships, civil unions, or reciprocal beneficiary relationships registered in other states are recognized in Washington so long as all the Washington criteria for domestic partnership are met.

• Domestic partners of state employees are qualified to receive benefits covered by the Public Employment Benefits Board.

• Rights of spouses extended to domestic partners include:

• Health Care
• Visitation of a patient in a health-care facility.
• Ability to give informed consent for health care for a patient who is not competent.
• Disclosure by a health-care facility of health-care information about a patient without the patient’s authorization.
• Death
• Funeral arrangements.
• Ability to consent to autopsies.
• Authorization of organ and tissue donation.
• Inheritance rights when there is no will.
• Administration of an estate if the decedent died intestate or if the representative named in the will is unable to serve.
• Provisions dealing with non-probate assets and power of attorney

Getting Back Into the Swing . . . .

I think my life is finally back into enough order to get into writing here again. Sorry for the long hiatus. I thought I'd only be gone a week or so, but life always seems to throw surprises at you when you least expect it. :-)

I am working on another project and could use some input from my readers. I have put up a poll that I'd love for as many of you as possible to take. It is in regards to your reading preferences when viewing erotica online. Please be aware that the questions are adult in nature. Please only take the poll if you are a legal adult in your area.

Kate's Adult Reading Poll

Environmental musings to follow soon!

On Hiatus

I'm going through some personal stuff that is difficult and emotionally draining, so I'll be away for a bit longer. I'll try to get back into the groove here next week. Have a good weekend, my fellow treehuggers!

A Virtual Cornucopia of Information Today

I've been reading about some interesting and urgent stuff over the past few days. Here are a few of the items I want to pass along.

1. Act now to prevent the stripping of your insurance benefits. A bill is up before the Senate, S. 1955 (a.k.a. The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act or the "Lose Your Benefits Bill") which would put hundreds of procedures and medicines, including contraception, on the chopping block if it passes. People will lose protections that only states guarantee as federal law will, in this instance, supercede state laws which require certain medications and procedures to be covered by insurance companies. If you are concerned, go here to contact your senators and tell them to vote against this bill.

2. Co-Op America was able to deliver over 10,000 letters to the board of directors of Peabody and Dominion, the two utility companies that had been working to build more dirty coal plants. If you all remember, I wrote a post about this a while ago asking people to write them letters and let them know that people wanted them to pursue clean, renewable energy rather than coal. They can no longer say they haven't heard that investors, customers and other concerned citizens want them to stay away from coal.

3. The documentary about Al Gore's campaign to enlighten people about global warming and inspire them to take action, An Inconvenient Truth, opens in theaters on May 24th. It was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival and you can read a short synopsis of the film on the Sundance website. I just checked Netflix and you can currently save it to your queue, or you can go to the movie website (linked above on the movie title), click on "See the Truth" and at the bottom of the page you can click another link to see where and when it's playing near you. It doesn't open here in Seattle until June 2nd. I'm definitely planning to go see this one.

4. Speaking of movies, if you want to get your kids excited about saving the environment, take them to see Hoot. This movie is based on the book by Carl Hiassen about some middle school-aged kids who take on land developers, corrupt politicians and a few other adults to save some endangered owls. It's rated PG for "mild bullying and brief language." It opens May 5th nationwide and you can find out where it is playing if you go to MovieTickets.com. At the official Hoot website (linked to above), you can download a virtual owl to your desktop and for every download New Line Cinema is making a donation to the National Wildlife Federation. You can also enter a drawing for a trip to Florida. :-)

5. May 14th is World Fair Trade Day! You can celebrate by taking some simple steps to ensure that you are increasing the number of fair trade items you buy and by encouraging others to do the same. There are some ideas for celebrating here and here. I'll do my part by turning you all on to a friend and fellow homeschooler, Dana Hoffman, who runs a local coffee company called Guadalupe's Coffee Roaster. She sells all organic and fair trade coffee at a reasonable price and she ships, too. Hers is the only coffee that my family and most of my friends buy. It is *fabulous* and I feel good about buying it. She roasts coffee two days a week and sells out at a local farmer's market most weeks, so the beans you get are never old. I am in no way affiliated with her business, just a satisfied customer.

Edit: Niobium reminded me of a really important cause that I've been meaning to blog about. Go to the bottom of the page and click on the new orange banner for Health Care Now! At that website, you'll learn all about the movement for universal healthcare in the United States and what you can do to help. On the week of June 7th there will be all sorts of demonstrations and other activities to create awareness about HR 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act. For a brief summary of the bill, go here. It sounds good to me!

Biodiesel Fueling Sites

Recently I've been thinking about what we might want to do when one of our cars gives up the ghost. It will probably be my husband's car since his is the older of the two. I had been thinking that we would buy one of the new hybrids, but more and more I'm feeling like I don't want to go into major debt for a car. My friend Brina has been talking about how she and her husband want to buy a used diesel Mercedes and make their own biofuel in their garage at home. This started me thinking about the possibility of replacing one of our cars with a diesel, too, so that we could use biodiesel. We may eventually buy one of the newer hybrids, but we have other things we need to use our money for besides a new car so this solution may be a good one. Someone recently sent me a link for the Biodiesel.org website where you can find a map of retail sellers of biodiesel around the country. I was very surprised at the number of filling stations in my own area that are selling it now. Many carry B20, but that's better than regular diesel. Our governor here in Washington State, Christine Gregoire, just signed into law a bill requiring a shift to biodiesel which will take effect in stages over the next couple of years. You can read about it here. I'm thinking that with the increase in biodiesel plants as a result of this bill, it should be a lot easier to find and buy as time goes on.

Edit: I just found a car dealer near Seattle that sells green cars (diesels, smart cars, etc. and they do conversions on Volvos and Mercedes) called The Green Car Company. They do out of state sales, too!

Fake Clinic Conned a 17-year-old Girl

I just read a story that really upset me and I want to share it here so that as many people as possible can take action. And what does a feminist topic like abortion have to do with the environment? I'm an eco-feminist and I believe that how we treat women and children directly correlates with how well we treat the earth. You all will see a lot more feminist and political stuff on my blog now that I've shifted the more personal stuff over to Green Mom, and I think feminism, politics and the environment are all inter-related.

A mother in Indiana went with her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend to what they thought was a Planned Parenthood clinic in Indiana. Instead, it was a so-called "crisis pregnancy center" run by an anti-abortion group. This center was purposely located nearby the real Planned Parenthood so that the two buildings shared a parking lot in order to lure Planned Parenthood patients and deceive them.

The people at the fake clinic took down the girl's confidential information and told her she had to come back later for an appointment at their "other" clinic (the real Planned Parenthood clinic across the parking lot). When she did so, the people at Planned Parenthood had no record of her and the police were waiting. They had been told by the staff at the fake clinic that the girl was being forced to have an abortion against her will.

But, that wasn't the end of it. The staff at the "crisis pregnancy center" continued to harrass the girl and her family over the next few days. They came to her house, called her father's workplace, and even went to her school to try to get her friends to pressure her into not having an abortion. They completely invaded this girl's privacy and she is a minor! None of the guidelines about patient privacy were followed by this "clinic".

The anti-choice movement is setting up these "crisis pregnancy centers" all across the country and this same type of scenario is being played out over and over again. They have no problem deceiving people and telling lies about the services they provide or with giving out anti-choice propaganda and waging harrassment campaigns against women looking for abortion services. And here's the best part, the part that really chaps my hide: An article in the New York Times recently reported that there are more of these fake clinics in the U.S. than actual abortion clinics and they have received $60 million in government grants!! We are funding these liars with our tax dollars!!!!

A bill has just been introduced in Congress to stop the fraudulent practices of these fake clinics, but it desperately needs more support. Tell your representative to take a stand: anti-choice extremists must not get away with this any longer!

Go to: http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/fakeclinics

Washington State Readers--Protect Your Right to Have Prescriptions Filled

The Washington State Board of Pharmacy will be making important decisions this week on whether or not pharmacists in the state of Washington have the right to refuse to fill prescriptions based on their personal beliefs. It is vitally important that we all contact the Board of Pharmacy as well as Governor Christine Gregoire immediately.

If we do not speak up, those who support the right of pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions will be the only ones heard!!


If you think this decision doesn't affect you, think again!! If the Board decides that it is okay for pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions based on their personal beliefs, pharmacists could deny medications to men and women based on perceived sexual orientation, HIV status, marital status or for any other reason. A pharmacist could decide not to fill a prescription for birth control because a person is not married, for instance (or even if they *think* the person is not married). The decision on what prescription drugs a person needs should be between the patient and his/her doctor. Period.

There are upcoming pharmacy board meetings at these locations and times:

Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Location: Labor & Industries, Auditorium

7273 Linderson Way SW, Tumwater WA 98501

Date: Thursday, April 20, 2006

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Location: Red Lion Hotel, Yakima Center

607 E. Yakima Avenue, Yakima WA 98901

If you can attend, please do and be sure to speak up and say why you think it is wrong for pharmacists to refuse to fill any prescription. The last few meetings have been filled by very vocal proponents of the pharmacists' right to over-ride what you and your doctor have decided is best for you.

If you can not attend, please write a letter to both the board of pharmacy and the governor. Here is their contact information:

Washington State Board of Pharmacy, PO Box 47863, Olympia WA 98504-7863 or via email to WSBOP@doh.wa.gov, or fax to 360-586-4359.

Governor Christine Gregoire, Office of the Governor, P.O Box 40002, Olympia, WA 98504. To e-mail the Governor go to http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/govemail.htm. You can fax the Governor at Fax (360) 753-4110.

Here is a sample letter (insert your own comments and/or information):

Dear Washington State Pharmacy Board Members,

I am writing to ask you to protect my right to have my prescriptions filled without delay or discrimination.

I believe that denying any form of health care to individuals because of a personal belief is wrong and should not be tolerated. If I walked into my local pharmacy and the pharmacist refused to fill my prescription because of personal reasons, I would be outraged and would lose faith in my ability to get the health care I need, when I need it.

It is hard enough for many people to get the health care they need. A policy allowing pharmacists to refuse to dispense medication because of personal beliefs would make it even tougher. People who need medicine from pharmacists may already be feeling vulnerable, scared and have a sense of needing urgent help. Referring men and women to other pharmacies is not a satisfactory substitute to having a prescription filled immediately. These policies can result in the individual being unable to fill his/her prescription in a timely manner. It is also important to remember that in many parts of our state the nearest pharmacy may be miles away.

A pharmacist has no right to interfere with the relationship I have with my doctor. If my doctor has given me a prescription, it is not the right of the pharmacist to second guess unless it there is a valid medical reason to do so.

INSERT YOUR PERSONAL STORY OF BEING REFUSED A PRESCRIPTION HERE IF YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE SHARING IT WITH THE BOARD.

I believe that pharmacists’ moral or religious beliefs may be accommodated provided that the accommodation does not cause the patient delay or untold barriers to securing services. This means that a patient should not be referred to another pharmacy to receive his/her medication. A pharmacist’s personal beliefs should not trump the health care needs of patients.

Thank you for considering my concerns. I hope that you will do everything in your power to protect the rights I have come to expect as a citizen of Washington.