OMG! Women's health under further siege...

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

Apparently, the Health and Human Services agency has a draft proposal to redefine major forms of contraception, including the pill, patch, and IUD, as abortion, based on the not-proven notion that these forms of contraception are really abortifacient in their action (that they work only or primarily by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg). The above article provides a link to a copy of the leaked draft proposal. The proposal would do this action mainly by defining pregnancy as starting when there is a fertilized egg present, as opposed to the AMA's usual definition of established (ie implanted and progressing) pregnancy. The most insidious thing about this is that under that definition, no woman of reproductive age could ever prove she was not pregnant. (Would this change eventually result in women of fertile age not receiving or being made to delay services like diagnostic x-rays or needed C-class drugs because they "might" be pregnant??) It appears that the idea is to allow service providers to deny contraception, and perhaps allow insurers to not pay for contraception, on the basis that it is abortion. I am beyond appalled. It makes me realize that Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale isn't as far-fetched as I might like it to be.

Belated Blogging: Blogger's Bonanza

Last weekend, I was honored to be invited to a Lady Food Blogger's Potluck Picnic by my friend pattimst3k. I felt rather like a posuer among the invitees, as they included many local food bloggers and group founders who post much more about food than I. I think I have maybe 15 food posts in several years' worth of this journal.

In any case, I dithered and dithered about what to bring, but eventually settled on raspberry lemonade and a green salad with grilled chicken. The lemonade was as easy as possible: I just added some washed and bruised raspberries from the farmers' market to a pitcher of lemonade. The salad was because I hadn't seen much for entrees amongst the dishes that were being planned, and I figured I needed some protein so I wasn't eating only carbs, and there might be other people who felt the same. The chicken had been marinating for a couple of days and needed to be grilled anyway. The marinade included some sage and winter savory from therck's garden, freshly ground black pepper, lemon juice, some lime marmalade that I wanted to use up, and some balsamic vinegar. The salad was a simple one of romaine and red leaf lettuces, baby peppers cut into rings, sweet onions in slivers and sunflower seeds for some texture. I took two dressings, a simple mustard-based french vinaigrette and a lemon-thyme vinegrette.

There was a delicious cous cous dish, delicious spreads (goat cheese with honey and herbs and a bean spread) with good bread, a chard custard dish, a wonderful bean dish with oodles of garlic, barbecue beef, fried sage leaves (yum!), a green salad with fresh lettuce from the Ann Arbor Community Farm, herbal tea, a red currant tart, an olive oil cake with balsamic plums on the side, a cherry pie, and amazing company of people to talk to. I had a complete and utter blast. I am sure I am forgetting some of the food, so please accept my apologies if I left out a mention of your dish, and please correct me!

Here's the blog list of the attendees:
http://www.thefarmersmarketer.com/
http://communityfarmkitchen.blogspot.com/
http://thym-thym.blogspot.com/ (64 sq ft kitchen)
http://dianadyer.blogspot.com/
http://4obsessions.blogspot.com/
http://thehungrymasses.blogspot.com/
http://eatclosetohome.wordpress.com/
http://fruitcakeornuts.blogspot.com/
http://groups.google.com/group/local-food-workgroup?hl=en
http://a2eatwrite.blogspot.com/
http://motherskitchen.blogspot.com/
pattimst3k

Also, I note with satisfaction the LJ news posted today that LiveJournal has reinstated the Basic level for new accounts. It is again possible to start a new LiveJournal account without dealing with ads and without paying a fee. Yay!

This week only!

I don't Squee very often, but I squee'd about this:

http://www.drhorrible.com/

Acts I & II currently up. Act III will go up Saturday. All will come down Sunday at midnight. Available on iTunes for $2 per episode or $4 for the "season pass." Read the "master plan."