Say No to Violence Against Women

Click the title link to go to Unifem's website. Unifem's Say No To Violence Campaign has been issued a challenge: Get 100,000 signatures in your guest book showing support and receive $100,000.00 from the United Nations Foundation. Please go add you signature now. This challenge must be met by International Women's Day, March 8th, 2008. So far they are up to just over 48,000 signatures.
If you would like to list your organization send an email to saynotoviolence@unifem.org including your organization's name, website address, contact name and email address. Thank you.

A Force More Powerful--198 Methods of Nonviolent Action

Over at Social Work/Social Action there is a great link I can't believe I forgot to tell you about. The link to the site A Force More Powerful. Lots of great stuff on this site! 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action being one of many.

Cranky Doc also has a great post linking you today to a Tax Policy Center Briefing Book--A Citizen's Guide to the 2008 Election and Beyond.

Don't have much else to say yet...printing out stuff to study and studying.....

Trench Warfare

Trench Warfare is a new blog that is shaping up very nicely and decidedly deserves mention here. As a social work student I so wish there were more blogs out there describing what it is like in the real working world of social workers. I want to hear it all....blood, guts, gorey and/or success stories, just all of it written from a worker's point of view. Trench Warfare is poised to do just that and I applaud the idea and the effort. It is written anonymously, as it should be. All I have to say about that is...You Go, Girl!

A Blog Well Worth Your Time...Really!

It is my duty in keeping up with this blog to inform you of other blogs that will enlighten your continuation into social work.

Written by Daniel Little, Michigan, United States, Understanding Society is a blog "aimed at scholars, students and other professionals who share interests in the foundations of the social sciences and the philosophy of history."

Mr. Little's work is by far the most intellectual and extensive I've found in the blogworld to date. Please go spend some time with him, reading and absorbing all that he has to say. Be sure to check out his archives, interviews and podcasts also. I think you will learn and understand more here than you could ever get from a social work textbook...imho :)

Thanks and have a great day!

Woo Hoo!!!

Checked the MySpace page today to see if I had been accepted as one of KoKo Taylor's friends yet. Yep, you guessed it...I've been accepted! I'll be flyin' high today...all day! Woo Hoo!!!!!

Value Your Privacy? Our Fourth Amendment Rights Are Being Deleted!

If you value this statement taken from the Constitution then go here immediately and sign this petition!

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

The Senate has already passed this legislation. The House is now our only hope in preserving this freedom allowed us by the Constitution. An article on what has happened can be found here.

The petition can be found again here.

Barack Obama '08

Here is the best page for finding Barack Obama's speeches, stand on issues, pdf version of "The Blueprint for Change," donation links, videos, etc. that I have found so far.

Upon reading the speech he gave in Wisconsin yesterday, it brought tears to my eyes. It made me believe in the process again. It made me believe that here is a man like we have not seen since Kennedy, only better because he did not grow up with the Kennedy privilege. It made me want to believe that he can handle the resistance he will find when he gets to Washington. Most of all it made me remember the dream and think that maybe through him we can once again be proud of our nation and what it once stood for.

K, so maybe I should go read the reviews first before I post :)

Seems as though Amy Winehouse is in rehab...yes, yes, yes. If you ask me, judging by her performance, her almost inability to stand, her inability to recall the words to the song...methinks she just substituted an illegal drug for a legal one. I truly hope she gets herself straight.

The Winehouse Grammys

Normally I just don't watch the Grammy anymore. Last night I wanted to see the cirque de solie performance which I missed watching an I Love Lucy episode. :) This morning I wish I had never left Nickelodean for Grammy. I tell you I had nightmares....realistic, gorey nightmares...the kind that make you wake up in a cold, clammy sweat, thinking you are somewhere or someone else.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I have no sympathy for alcoholics and/or junkies. I'm sorry if that offends the politically correct of you out there but, hey walk a mile in my shoes, k? I feel that if I can beat my demons then anyone can do it and an organization such as Grammy glorifying a junkie ...is that really going to help her? Didn't her own mother beg us not to buy her records anymore so she wouldn't have the money to buy drugs with?

Watching her performance was just pitiful. As much as I have no sympathy, it still makes me want to scream, cry and tear my hair out to watch the self-destruction of an otherwise talented human being. There were times when she was getting into the groove a bit much for her tired body and I found myself praying that she would not fall. Then when she got the award she just lost it and had to be brought back to reality and told what to say by her mother. I really think it would have been better if Grammy had just let us remember her from the video when she was healthier. It would have been healthier for me anyway. I may have nightmares about this for weeks. Maybe they did it for her mother because she so obviously loves her daughter despite her problems. I just know that I could have done without that much anticipated performance. Hell why didn't they glorify Britney, with all her problems too? Didn't she have an album come out last year? I guess hers is not a heroin addiction...not glamorous enough...but then we don't really know for sure what her addiction is, do we?

Then there was Tina and Beyonce's performance. This is the first time I can remember Tina not showing those fabulous legs, but hey, she will be 70 next year and I just hope I'm still walking at 70 much less shaking the groove thang :) It appears that steroid use has surely transformed Tina's face, just as it has Cher's. When I see this it makes me wonder what is really going on with them.

When I watch Grammy, I want to see what is new. I want to see fresh faces and know what's going on now. It's great to recognize past accomplishments but geez, stop with all the old geezers already....makes me feel older than I already do.

Target and Kroger Getting on the Bandwagon with $4 Generic Prescriptions

WOO! HOO! Finally! I don't have to drive 20 minutes and fight the crowds. From what I can tell by just glancing at the list Target and Kroger have the same generic medications on their list as
Wal-Mart. To Wal-Mart's credit, I think I do remember them saying when they first came out with it that they hoped others would follow their lead. Thank-you Kroger, especially, and Target for doing so. Now if you could see your way to including an Albuterol inhaler, a Combivent inhaler and Prevacid or Nexium then I'd be set.... I know, I'm a camel :)

I Will Rush No More!

You all know I live to share what I find :) Today, I want to share the blog, I Will Rush No More! I stumbled on it's lusciousness this morning. We have the flu, got steroid shots and haven't slept in 3 days, so you can imagine just how profound these words were to me in my particular state, hopefully they will be as profound to others as well, especially our presidential hopefuls...

I Will Rush No More--Intro

If you really want to make a change, then select one behavior which infiltrates every aspect of your life, reverse it, and then apply that as an antidote. Then expand on that in a way that carries its own sense of grace and ease. Let that then become your style of living, extend it to others, and find those of a similar mind and enjoy their company. Go Slow, Mon.

The steps to mindfulness:

Here's the process in some detail and in an approximate sequence. But remember that this is simply an outline which can create an experience of mindfulness. Once you have practised it 5 or 10 or 150 or 1500 times it will become second nature and then you can invent and explore your own pathways and explorations to keep the flywheel of mindfulness going across time and across situations.

1. Set the intent to do it.
2. It may be helpful in the beginning to say: "this is a good time to take a break."
3. Clear a "space" so you can shift gears into being more aware and present. Typically the universal way of doing that is to bring your attention to your breath. Watch your breath; really become aware of it.
4. There is no effort to change anything about your breathing. It may want to spontaneously shift, and if so, bring mindful awareness to that, and let it happen - or not; either way be aware of the experience. Keep it fresh.
5. Whatever you become aware of bring your awareness to it. The second learned reflex during the mindfulness minutes is to not make any judgements about what you are aware of or experiencing. The strategy is one of watching and being aware without the need to label and differentiate. Even when you notice events being judged, evaluated, sliced and diced into favorite or unusual categories, "simply" let mindfulness be aware of the process without judging, labeling and differentiating.
6. You will probably become aware of events in your mind (images, thoughts, conversations) and your body (sensations, feelilngs) or in your environment. In every instance let yourself become aware of what is presently in, or coming into, your awareness. Let it be. Any effort to bring it forth or to push it away is not part of this exercise - except an yet again another opportunity to let mindfulness "be and do" its thing.
7. As you become aware of something, notice it, and let it go. It's like you are encouraging impermanance.
8. The "letting go" is without effort. The easiest way I have found to do this is to both bring attention to the event in experience and let the awareness bring you further into the experience and if you are not trying to hold on to it, it will naturally morph across time. Or, when you notice the sensation or the image, notice it and then on your exhale let your mindful attention go to the experience of exhaling.
9. Do this for a few minutes and then move back into whatever you had been doing or whatever the next thing is that you want to do.
10. Now that you have set the intent to do it, and have practised it, the next step is to set up some sort of feedback loop that reminds you at random times throughout the day to take that break. Whenever I walk in a particular corridor I take it as a cue to practise. I have done it when I walk through a door way, i.e., I take that as a reminder of the opportunity. I take a cue from a muscle in my neck; it it gets too tight, I use it as a reminder. The best is to come up with your own.

Please be sure to read the comments for the post when you go over to I Will Rush No More!

Economic Stimulus-Schmimulus Package--If you really want to stimulate the economy....

--Allow adults living in the same household to file income taxes jointly, reaping the same benefits as a married couple or head of household.
--Allow an adult child over 18 that is the sole breadwinner in the home to claim a dependent parent and qualify for the earned income tax credit.
--Change the dependent child tax credit to dependent child/parent/significant other tax credit. A dependent is a dependent.
If you do these things then other things like insurance companies not allowing any dependents on an insured's policy but a child, hospital's allowing only "immediate family at the bedside of a dying patient, etc. will follow suit or at least one would have some recourse.
If your "religion" won't allow you to conceive of the notion of gay marriage then at the very least do these things.....

The Horrific State of Dental Decay in America

Yes, it bothers me very much that Obama and Edwards declined to comment on this article. Speaking as one who has had an abscess and had to pull it herself (I won't give you the gory details, luckily I do have training in sterile technique) because of lack of affordable or accessible dental care. I respectfully ask that you read this article: Dental Decay: the Hidden Health Crisis

These are the kinds of issues I want to see addressed by our candidates. These are the kinds of issues I want to see solutions to and funding for. I'm tired of the important issues for the basic survival of people in this country being ignored or watered down beyond recognition. Hell, Wal-Mart has single-handedly done more for the poor with their $4 prescription drug list, by providing them with affordable medications, than any recent watered down legislation. Granted, the list should be longer and more comprehensive and I wonder how much their sales have escalated overall with this list, even so it is a massive undertaking and I applaud them for their effort. In fact I'm headed over there this morning with a handful for prescriptions for us :) It is flu season, after all and Tamiflu is not available here at the moment.

Now, one last bitch about the major drug company's supposed "help" for people who cannot afford their high-priced medications and I'll stop :) I will provide you with links to each one that I have tried but know this...I have been trying to get an answer from each of them for 6 months or longer to no avail. Try it, if you want, but don't put much faith in it. I was so excited when I began this process right after my son started working and we lost all our benefits. Now, I just feel like it is a marketing ploy and I feel abused.
Here are the links:
Xubex (Proventil/Albuteral), Boehringer (Combivent/Albuterol/Ipratropium), TAP (Previcid/Lansoprasole).

K, that's it for my soapbox rave for the day :)

Social Work/Social Action blog

Found a new awesome blog today. Social Work Students please go have a look-see and subscribe :) Social Work/SocialAction.

Through Google, I subscribe to a feed called "social work blogspot" which I assume is a listing of every blog Google has listed on blogger with "social work, social, networking, social action, etc" in the title. Today must be "bash a social worker" day because most of them are doing just that. I, quite frankly, am sick of hearing how a social worker just "swooped in and stole" someone's child. I'm sick of hearing how an accused abuser must now live with the stigma of being labeled an abuser, even though his partner has now recanted and even though he has been awarded custody of the minor children.

I will not go into the makeup of an abuser, I have provided you links on the sidebar where you can read for yourself. I will not go into what all must happen before a child is taken from a parent, because I am not officially a social worker yet.

What I do know and what I will say is that the very first thing a new social worker is required to do before seeing his or her first client is commit to the code of ethics and learn the policies and procedures manual that governs any actions taken for the agency where they work. We can only do what the government, the NASW and our agency of employment allow us to do. These policies and procedures manuals have strict guidelines that we must adhere to. We do not, I repeat, do not, just run around willy-nilly snatching children and accusing perpetrators of violence without a complaint that must be investigated and proven. The very last resort is removing the child from the home.

So knock it off and go get a life...I'm pretty sure you would not want to be the one, given all the facts, having to make these decisions.

Edwards has My Vote! Take the Pledge Today!

Please go here to take the pledge! Maybe through a grassroots effort we won't lose our only viable candidate! Please post about this effort on your own blog also :) Please go to the campaign site for Mr. Edwards positions on the issues. John Edwards '08