Apache Alaska has been granted a permit to "incidentally" take 30 Beluga Whales every year in their exploration of oil & gas in the Alaskan Cook Inlet. 
These whales are on endangered species list- there are only 284 Cook Inlet Belugas.

Take Action: Donate to NDRC who has filed a lawsuit to protect the whales.

VIDEO- NSFW! A friend (a male) sent me the above video of a woman complaining her ass hurt during child birth.  I was glad to see that they stopped pushing her and let her relax for a moment.  I think this is a good example of how women were not designed to give birth immobilized on a table (literally 2 people holding her legs back!) for the convenience of doctors & midwives.

This same friend asked, "Do you support the use of doulas, midwives, and/or traditional medicines?" Here are the replies he received.

Since my abdominal hysterectomy, I've had a wake-up call to how traditional medicine treats women & their reproductive system.  The day after surgery, I was moved to the maternity ward.  Infertile me, who's just had the door finally slammed on fertility sent to Maternity because, "They know how to deal with women's issues."  Yes, my external incision resembles a C-Section, but inside, nothing was like a c-section.  My surgeon didn't come check on me during his rounds "because you weren't in your original room." Did he care enough to inquire as to where I went? Ha. In the morning of day 3, the maternity ward supervisor who hadn't even met me, sent a nurse-assistant in to tell me it was time for me to be released.

At 4 weeks post-op, I had my followup appointment at my doctor's office & he did not even examine me.  He told me the pain was normal & that my "eating trouble" would settle down with time.  I was not hugely surprised when I had to return for a post-op infection 2 weeks later.  It wasn't until I went to the ER in month 6 that my gyno started taking me seriously at all. 

When you go to the dentist, you get swabbed and injected with a numbing agent.  However, gynecology does not have any of these numbing tools.  Routinely women have cryo-freeze applied to their cervix, biopsies sliced from their vaginal vault and even silver nitrate applied with out the slightest consideration or regard of their pain.  If you cringe, doctors will snap, "This won't take long" or "this is usually painless."  After years of undergoing various procedures for my "women's issues," I never once had a doctor acknowledge pain, while monkeying around in my vagina- an area of your body rich with blood vessels and nerve endings.  All these years, I thought I was just horribly over sensitive until I started reading the forums at Hystersisters.com.  I wish I had found that site years ago when I first started having "women's issues."  I wouldn't have felt like such a freak.

Last fall, my sister-in-law opened a non-profit center in Idaho to educate women on their options at birth. The two local hospitals in her area just stopped VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarian) and she and a few others are trying to present the actual science of VBAC versus C-sections to their community. See  C-section Risks Downplayed and VBAC is Usually Safer. The local medical professionals whose work is supposed to rely on science, are not listening. 

Wholiedtotheblind had a good blog recently about "That Time."  For her, a little education on her options and a supportive physician made a life-altering difference. 

I think in the area of "Women's Issues" each woman deserves to hear all the options alternative and traditional, and have their choices respected by all professionals.  What do you think?

Droughts in Canada & US are going to make things tough next year:
USA http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/07/16/usa-drought-crops-idINL2E8IG93R20120716
Canada http://www.ottawacitizen.com/News/Ottawa/summer+will+mean+higher+food+prices+down+line/6942667/story.html

Even the millionaires are saying don't buy stocks
http://dailypfennig.com/currentIssue.aspx?date=7/16/2012

For people who have run out of their 99 weeks of unemployment
http://helpthe99ers.blogspot.ca/
http://www.99ers.net/

So, tiny update:

• Campground has sale pending to close July 27th. Hallelujah. Still have legal snafu's on nearly valueless desert property in California before I can be done with all this estate horror.
• My 7 yr old has adult teeth coming out behind babyteeth & so faces 4 tooth extractions next week. OWIE.
• My foundation is leaking, so I'm spending 10% of the value of my house to fix it next month.
• Last weekend we had a family reunion in San Francisco & came back home with Lice.

And lastly Xanga friends, I leave you with this song from 1990, but so apt in today's political environment:
DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN.