Rose petals on the way into the OR suite

[jesse_the_k]

s.e.smith's blog, this ain't livin' hits it out of the park on an important topic which makes me so furious I can't hardly describe it:

begin quote The decision to abstain from discussing the thorny bioethics issues behind the Ashley X case is a reminder, yet again, that the wishes of nondisabled parents of disabled children should always be deferred to over the voices of actual people with disabilities, including people who share disabilities with those children. People wringing their hands over whether such procedures are okay and whether children will resent them when they grow up could turn to adult people with similar disabilities and ask them. quote ends

The "Seattle Growth Attenuation and Ethics working group" issued a report last month wrestling wrestle with the ethical issues raised in the Ashley X "treatment" case from five years ago — where parents created a "pillow angel" by removing their daughter's reproductive organs and breast buds.—

A number of folks have complimented me on my icons. Almost all are thanks to that genius jackshoegazer: for anyone needing something surreal, funny, or heartbreaking, slide your pointer of choice over to his icon comm: The Iconomicon!
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One of my #1 comfort fic faves in Stargate Atlantis is estefee's Fair Trade series. She won my heart by this epic where "John owns a coffee roastery, and Rodney is Customer Zero who will tell him where to stick his beans." (Also Ronon is an orthopedic surgeon, and Teyla is a kickass physiotherapist.)

Now she's just posted some more challenging stories where John isn't falling into anyone's bed without an effort. She pushed my angst buttons expertly yesterday Black Widow and I'm recc'ing Bionic Heart unread because estefee is that good.
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For the past two days I've been sipping bouillon to make more room in my abdomen for expert hands tomorrow. And let me just say, Better then Bouillon really is an outstanding soup base. Of course they offer a wealth of choices — organic, regular, vegan, meat — and they're all really good. If I was restricted to one I'd be very sad, but I'd go with the mushroom.
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Idly channel-surfing I came across our state's MLK Jr Day celebration. It's a rare opportunity for advocates to address the bigwigs — in our case, Michelle Alexander who gave a wonderful speech about how U.S. prisons are the "new Jim Crow," denying more people more rights than even the days of legalized segregation. Here's a March 2010 bit from Bill Moyers on PBS.org, which has a transcript as well as video. Some of the salient facts:

• The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid.

• In Washington DC, three out of four young black men (and nearly all those in the poorest neighborhoods) can expect to serve time in prison.

• In some states, African-Americans make up to 90 percent of drug prisoners and are up to 57 times more likely to be incarcerated for drug crimes than whites.
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Hoping to be back, minus a few pounds, later this week.