Call on governments to lift HIV travel restrictions
Introduction

In advance of the United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York from June 10- 11, the World AIDS Campaign and the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance urge organizations to sign onto a letter from civil society to the UN missions and Heads of State of countries that impose travel restrictions on people living with HIV.

We join with other members of civil society in condemning such restrictions as discriminatory and in contradiction to the commitments made through the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration. We urge governments that continue to impose travel restriction on people living with HIV to lift these, whether short or long-term.  read more »

Jonathan Cohn's take on why 43% of French citizens say that "fundamental changes are needed" to their country's health care system - they "want to sustain what they have -- and are worried that, given medical care's escalating costs, they will have trouble doing so in the future", he says - seems overly complacent, given that, e.g., seventy-four percent (.doc file - see p. 3) of those same citizens report that the standards of care and treatment in their health care system are declining, a number that is ten percent higher than that in the U.S. Perhaps they would like to regain what they used to have.  read more »

i tried many compaines, been through alot of shit.

but still no friends/video site.

and i have spent THOUSANDS.

so, can i just not hire people?
company, after company, after company.

or,

is the US Government along with newscorp,
keeping sites where people can truly communicate off the United States internet?

you tell me.  read more »

Friday, May 30, 2008
news.com.au

O’Neal, of Kirkland, Wash., said he knows his deformity is shocking — but he refuses to hide like other people with his disorder. 

[This is an awesome and heartwarming article I came across.  The admiration I have for this man is tops and I truly commend him for doing what he does as you will see if you click on the link to see the photo.  I must warn you it is quite a shocking picture and probably not for the faint of heart but the article that is included with the picture shows such compassion for someone who has not let his physical disease/appearance hinder him in anyway...flagranny2] 

James O’Neal compares himself to John Hurt’s character in the 1980 film “The Elephant Man.”  read more »

The Greatest Danger by Joanna Macy How do we live with the fact that we are destroying our world? What do we make of the loss of glaciers, the melting Arctic, island nations swamped by the sea, widening deserts, and drying farmlands? ***

If you're really paying attention, it's hard to escape a sense of outrage, fear, despair. Author, deep-ecologist, and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy says: Don't even try.  read more »

Governor Barbour is pushing a tax on hospitals to raise the $90 Million needed to offset a Medicaid deficit. Legislators have urged that instead of placing the tax on hospitals to instead place the tax on cigarettes.  Mississippi currently has the lowest taxes on tabacco in the country.  Barbour has stated that he would veto any tax on cigarettes.  read more »

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First thing I want to say is thank you to everyone for your comments on my post yesterday. The outpouring of support made me feel much better. Now, on to an update. 

I finally found somewhere who stocked Plan B yesterday via a link from Manxome (thank you so much for the link; I had all but given up on Plan B at that point). I called the clinic and explained the situation to them. They were helpful and kind and went out of their way to try and alleviate the need for me to drive to them. When I explained how far away I was they tried to route me to alternate clinics that may have a doctor on hand that day. The hope was that they could patch me through to a sister clinic where the doctor would just call in a prescription for me to my local pharmacy thus alleviating the need to drive the hour and a half to them.  read more »

I've just returned from Nottingham, UK where I was very fortunate to be able to attend public talks and teachings given by HH The Dalai Lama.

I have to say I was a bit apprehensive and concerned about what might happen. I first heard His Holiness speak at Glasgow in 2004, and barely managed to make the 4 hour drive back to my flat, whereupon I fell through the door crawled into bed and had the worst case of 'flu' I've ever had in my entire life. I couldn't get out of bed for 2 weeks. When I mention this to buddhist friends, they often nod sagely and say something like "Ah... purification, that's good!" Really. Hmm.  read more »

I was out last night with some friends and their friends. One of these friend's friends, we'll call her Amy, is white. Walking down the street, the conversation turned to Amy and her recent trip to a sunny locale and how she got tanned and subsequently sunburned. At the end of this riveting tale, Amy puts her hand on the shoulder of Black friend #1 and says, "But you wouldn't know anything about that," in a very nonchalant afterthought kind of way. This isn't that remarkable if you know Amy because she tends to say a lot of things without thinking first. Still, it caused me to roll my eyes and shoot Black Friend #1 a knowing glance.  read more »

Welcome, welcome to another edition of the very best stuff to come to my attention online this week. There is something for everyone here, whether you want to laugh, cry, learn, or ponder life's mysteries, have a seat and dig in.

Regarding the mind-

At Mind Hacks, Vaughan has an excellent post about the evidence for placebos as medical treatment, carefully defining what exactly the placebo effect is and is not and pondering the ethics of their use to relieve affliction, in light of the new nothing pill parents can buy their children.

Jonah Lehrer, at Frontal Cortex, takes an in depth look and mindfulness meditation and the paradoxical effect it has on pain, controlling it by giving it our full attention.  read more »