Sound the Alarm: Fake "Clinic" Cons 17-Year-Old Girl

An Indiana mother recently accompanied her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend to one of Indiana's Planned Parenthood clinics, but they unwittingly walked into a so-called "crisis pregnancy center" run by an anti-abortion group, one that shared a parking lot with the real Planned Parenthood clinic and was designed expressly to lure Planned Parenthood patients and deceive them.The group took down the girl's confidential personal information and told her to come back for her appointment, which they said would be in their "other office" (the real Planned Parenthood office nearby). When she arrived for her appointment, not only did the Planned Parenthood staff have no record of her, but the police were there. The "crisis pregnancy center" had called them, claiming that a minor was being forced to have an abortion against her will. The "crisis pregnancy center" staff then proceeded to wage a campaign of intimidation and harassment over the following days, showing up at the girl's home and calling her father's workplace. Planned Parenthood's clinic director reports that the girl was "scared to death to leave her house." They even went to her school and urged classmates to pressure her not to have an abortion. The anti-choice movement is setting up these "crisis pregnancy centers" across the country. Some of them have neutral-sounding names and run ads that falsely promise the full range of reproductive health services, but they dispense anti-choice propaganda and intimidation instead. And according to a recent article in The New York Times, there are currently more of these centers in the U.S. than there are actual abortion providers. What's more, these centers have received $60 million in government grants. They're being funded by our tax dollars.A bill has just been introduced in Congress to stop the fraudulent practices of fake clinics, but it desperately needs more support.

Tell your representative to take a stand: anti-choice extremists must not get away with this any longer!
Go to: http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/fake

Knit/Crochet show in Oakland.

I just got back. It was so much fun. I went up Friday and stayed at the hotel with ms. Knitorious, we took 2 classes. Pattern Writing 101 with Edie Eckman on Friday night and Intro to Sweater Design this morning with Gwen Bortner. Both were fabulous. I highly recommend taking their classes if you ever see them in town!

Edie Eckman was very fun, clear, and informative. AND she made an effort to address everyone knitters, crocheters, those that wanted to self-publish and those that wanted to submit to publication. Lots of info, but the class was scheduled a bit late, 6pm-9pm and the room was freezing.

Gwen Bortner was really good. She was "broken", with arm in sling her writing hand. So she had a friend come and help. Her friend happened to be Beth Whiteside of See Jane Knit! She went over the importance of BIG swatches, and then we got to measure ourselves, she closed all the doors and we had "girl's locker room" so we were all able to get correct measurements. And the great thing was all of the measurements were done in the right way so that they make sense when you go to actually make the garment! Something I've had trouble with. Then we went over the basics of sweater design on a BASIC sweater, no set-in sleeves unfortunately, but it is an intro class. We all begged her to teach a sequel next year. There is a Modified drop shoulder which is better that a plain one so thats what Im making, a cardigan with Valentina Devine's Gemini in this beautifulgrey/purple, with cream and light green varigation. Im going to do a pineapple square on the back and a pineapple panel on both side of the front. I cant wait to get into it. In fact I will go play now!

Latest project

This is what I'm currently working on, it's called Clara's Concha Cap from Alchemy. It's made with their Bamboo, which I'm using the "Dragon" colorway. It's very pretty but doesn't show well on their website. If you know my sister, it's a very "Sara" color. Unfortunately I signed on for this before I realized it was made with a size B hook!! Oh the humanity. Luckily there's only 3 solid rows then the rest is lacey. The sizing is weird too, it only comes in a 23" circumference. I'm having a hard time getting the gauge right too, I have to undo the first row cuz the chain is too loose... I guess if it turns out too big I can always give it to my Big Headed sister. =) Hehe, I'm sure she's hoping right now that "Figgy" wont have her big head.
So spring is finally here, and I found something I didn't miss. Bugs. It was a nice day so we had the tops of the doors open at work and as I'm about to leave I see this giant ugly bug thing that was either a mosquito or a mosquito hawk, I can't remember the difference. So I left quickly to avoid it, only to get to my car and I can't get in cuz there's a wasp hovering around my driver's side door. I had to climb over from the passenger side cuz it wouldnt go away! I hate bugs. I wish I had a magic force field around me that kept all bugs at least 20 ft away from me.

Looking to buy or sell a house??

No Im serious. My mom is a real estate agent. A hard working one too. But unfortunately California has 3 times as many agents as there are available properties. My step-father is a general contractor (also dependent on the slow real estate market) and very good at his job and VERY reasonably priced. Times are a bit tough right now and my mom is freaking out, scared that we're going to have to sell our house just to pay the bills. I hate seeing her like this, especially when theres nothing I can really do to help. The most I can think to do is ask that if anyone out there wants to buy or sell or renovate a house, or townhouse or condo in the San Francisco Bay Area, PLEASE contact me.

Will the Saga never end?

So now Magick has an upper respiratory infection. I had noticed her sneezing a couple days ago, but I thought it was just her habit of immersing her nose into her water bowl. But then Saturday night I noticed she continued far after drinking and she was getting nose wetness everywhere when she purred. The vet is closed Sunday so I managed to get up early today and get an appointment before I went in to work. They gave me ointment for her eye, which is getting funky goop coming from it, and some Bacon flavored antibiotics for the sneezing. Now I just have to get DeDe to stay away from her for awhile. Which means I cant sleep with my DeDe =(

wacky game

Saw this on another blog...

The Wikipedia Game:Search for your birthday. Post 3 events, 2 births, 1 death.

September 10th

Events:
1608 - John Smith is elected council president of Jamestown, Virginia.
1897 - In the Lattimer Massacre, a sheriff's posse killes more than nineteen unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania, United States.
1919 - Austria and the Allies sign the Treaty of Saint-Germain recognizing the independence of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

Births:
1960 - Colin Firth, English actor Bridget Jones's Diary(2001), Love Actually (2003)
1949 - Bill O'Reilly, American journalist, author, and commentator (EEEEW)

Deaths:
1797 - Mary Wollstonecraft, English author And mother of Mary Shelley.

wackiness at Safeway

So first as Im walking in I got pissed. It's raining, and the poor courtesy clerks (aka baggers) are bringing in carts as quickly as they can. 1 clerk is bringing one in after helping someone to their car and this F$%^tard came up behind him whistling and yelling "Yo, cowboy" to get his attention to get the cart. The guy was almost to where the carts were next to the door anyway. There's no reason to make an ass of himself and be horribly rude to the clerk. I hate people. But then when I went in I realized that the music thats playing is Living Colour's "Cult of Personality". How weird is that? Or am I just old? So anyway as I'm checking out I made a point to say "Thank you" to the clerk who bagged my groceries and I think I confused him. So, when you go shopping next, make a point to be polite to the nice people who work at one of the crappiest jobs.

Went to Vet today

Magick went to the vet today. They think it's a food allergy. My stepfather bought this cheap food as treats and kept giving it to them all the time and the vet thinks that is what made them sick, and that Magick just had a more severe reaction to it. So we got some Hypo-allergenic food, that all the other cats LOVE, and said if she doesn't start eating soon to bring her back for some Kitty Pepto or somthing like that. But she's got alot of padding so she'll be ok for a little while.

quiz

what decade does your personality live in?


quiz brought to you by lady interference, ltd Got this from another blog I read. Kinda funny. Tho I didnt have good answers for all the questions so I guessed..

Road to recovery

Well, Magick is slowly getting better. No vomiting, but she obviously doent feel good. She's even gone a little weird and while normally agoraphobic and not leaving my room now she's walking around the house. My mom took her outside today and she managed to get herself all dirty, so I had to give her a bath, and she didnt fight as much as I thought she would. That may be because she doesnt feel good or because of her fondness of drinking water and then she was covered in it. She's drying off now with a look on her face that belongs on My Cat Hates You. The other cats are unsure what to do, Pepper tries his evil meow at her and she mostly doesnt care unless he's with in touch range. I hope she gets completely better soon.

Sick kitties

There is nothing worse than a sick kitty, except 2 sick kitties. Both Pepper and Magick are both sick with a stomach flu it seems like. They're both very lethargic and are vomiting and its a distinctive dark brown color. They still eat and drink, and Pepper seems a little bit better today but just vomited. When I came home from work tonight Magick didn't even meow when I came in the room. I don't think she had moved much all day, just curled in a ball on my bed. I gave her some water and now she's perched on my monitor, but it's very sad. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse, or they'll have to make the, oh so fun, visit to the Vet. Ok, time to go cuddle Magick. Good excuse to sit and crochet if I ever heard one.