HIV & AIDS - Christine Maggiore
email to a friend, who is pissed regarding the information made widely public since HIV came into the spotlight:
Cal Pen Code § 647f
hi...i am downloading all the links and will listen by and by...you know how i always check out the chp log? this morning there's an incident that says "subj apparently 647F" so i looked up 647F and ... go check it out.

this may be an issue you're interested in, if this person should not be charged with an additional felony based on the so-called "HIV test." i haven't heard enough to make an opinion. just thought it was an interesting coincidence.

this is what happened: i am pregnant with rory, and magic johnson goes public that he is HIV positive. suddenly i think if magic johnson has it i could have it, anyone could. like i said i found out later how incredibly promiscuous he was. the guidelines at the dr's office include HIV testing as one of the early recommended procedures, so i tell the OB i want one. he asks me if i fall into a high risk category; i say no, but i have been a single woman for the past five or so years, and i am pregnant, and he tells me they aren't doing the tests, they're referring people to the clinics!

okay. when i was a little hippie girl i went to the free clinic for bc pills, etc. long waits is what i remember best. and i am a logical person. obviously i could not be at a very high risk for AIDS if my own dr refused to test me for it. one thing about HMO's is they will do what they believe to be necessary to try and keep their members healthy. it's only cost effective, right? so i didn't sweat it.

after rory was born i discussed it once with my regular dr whose been my dr since my "from birth" dr retired. he told me that rory and i would not be healthy if i was HIV infected. again, he did not see any need for testing. so that was that. and i told you about bekah and how she was tested - i know i didn't think for a second that she would be positive. when she called with the good news i had all but forgotten that she'd taken the test. and i'm a worrier.

anyhow. i've only listened to one of the radio shows and didn't hear all of it. so i don't want to comment yet.

missed you last night [holiday party for Justice for Murdered Children]. you should have come. ribs. wings. links. meatballs. and desserts. it was really nice. we all wrote a note to or about our murdered loved ones, attached them to balloons, had a meditation outside, and released them.

i also really appreciated that the meditation was not a didactic reborn veiled proselytization the way prayers often are. [at tim's funeral his own mother stood up and talked about his "salvation" having been contingent on accepting christ and being baptized for the forgiveness of his sins blah blah blah].

really, people are free to believe what they choose to believe. i am just offended by proselytizers' refusal to respect other people's beliefs. i just get pissed - you know? my daughter was murdered. how dare anyone presume to tell me the disposition of her soul?!

on top of which i know she was pure of heart. according to their "scriptures," jesus himself said that means she will [depending on the version you consult] either see god or inherit the earth. no hell for bekah according to jesus himself, and these fucks want me to think she's in hell for all of eternity because they didn't succeed in brainwashing her before she was killed?

ok. rant over. love, barbara

taken at the salmon river thursday as we - susan, her daughter-in-law, and me - walked from the catholic cemetery to the town hall in Sawyer's Bar, CA, after having buried susan's 49-year-old husband Tim.

it was cold and clear as i took this picture.
- posted by barbara @ 12/14/2003 07:03:00 AM