AT&T FAIL!
Thanks to the AT&T epic email migration FAIL, I may be gone for a day or, too. Talk about corporate screw ups. At least if they were drinking they’d have an excuse.
BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT: ILLINOIS HB 5428
IMPORTANT CORRECTIONRE: CONTACT INFO IL HB 5428 Evidently, Illinois does not have any legislative email system. Our colleagues report that every single one of the emails published in our first Action Alert came back as undeliverable. Therefore, the ways to reach an elected official is by phone, FAX, or snail mail. (The latter might work because we are told that the Senate is not reconvening until April 13th.) We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. In an effort to try and spread the word about this bill, you might want to send your letter to some newspapers at the same time. Still one letter – but the string of email addresses is for newspapers around the state. The newspaper info appears under the Senators’ revised contact information. Senate Sponsors: Senator A. J. Wilhelmi (D)43rd DistrictSpringfield Office:Senator 43rd District311A Capitol BuildingSpringfield, IL 62706(217) 782-8800 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (217) 782-8800 end_of_the_skype_highlightingDistrict Office:2200 Weber RoadCrest Hill, IL 60403(815) 207-4445 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (815) 207-4445 end_of_the_skype_highlighting(815) 207-4446 FAX Senator Ira I. Silverstein (D) 8th DistrictMajority Caucus WhipSpringfield Office:Senator 8th District121B Capitol BuildingSpringfield, IL 62706(217) 782-5500 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (217) 782-5500 end_of_the_skype_highlighting(217) 782-5340 FAXDistrict Office:2951 West DevonChicago, IL 60659(773) 743-5015 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (773) 743-5015 end_of_the_skype_highlighting(773) 743-4750 FAX Continue Reading →
WELL, THAT’S INTERESTING–NO EMAILS FOR ILLILNOIS LEGGIES
Did you know that the Illinois Legislative page does not list email addys? Addys are not posted on the “contact” page and my personal sampling of leggies personal pages shows only one pol (Sara Feigenholtz, no less) who has an email contact listed. The few addys we do have don’t work. What could this possibly mean? I’ve held up posting the BN action alert due to this…er…problem. We’ve got phone numbers, faxes and mail addresses.
DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN: SNEAKY SARA FEIGENHOLTZ, PART 1: THE HB 5428 STATE SECRET
Due to the length this entry was becoming, the time involved in researching and writing it, and the need to get information out immediately on the abomination known as Illinois HB 5428, I am publishing this blog in parts. Depending on the finished product it will be in either two or three parts. Here, in Part 1, is an overview of the bill and its murky passage through the Illinois House. I also comment on machinations that appear to have gotten it passed under everybody’s radar when similiar bills for more than a decade have been met with loud howls from us. Illinois Open and Bastard Nation will release an Action Alert shortly. This entry and the part(s) to follow should be read in conjunction with the action alert. NOTE: In 2008 I wrote extensively on HB 5428’s predecessor look-alike, HB 4623. Two of my blogs llinois Warning! Trainwreck ahead for records rights and Illinois: That train keeps a rollin’ – more piece-a-crap legislation context the current mess. I will also reference others as we move along. ****** And I feel like I’ve been here before/Feel like I’ve been here before/And you know it does make me wonder/What’s going on Continue Reading →
S799: ANOTHER NEW JERSEY UPDATE
New Jersey S799 has been assigned to the Assembly Human Services Committee. (click committee link) No hearing date has been scheduled. Wanna hear more? Read the guest editorial by The New Jersey Coalition to Defend Privacy in Adoption, NJ adoption reform: Protect the privacy of all parties in today’s Newark Star-Ledger. The op-ed is headed with a cute but irrelevant picture of a 3-year old waiting to be anonymized by the Middlesex County Court. It will only take a minute, honey, and it won’t hurt a bit. We doubt that 20 years from now little Faith Deuschel will be happy to learn she was pimped as an adoption secret and potential public enemy. The New Jersey Coalition to Defend Privacy in Adoption is an unholy alliance of the New Jersey ACLU, the NJ Bar Association, the National Council for Adoption, New Jersey Right to Life, the Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry in New Jersey, and The New Jersey Catholic Council–industry hacks, panderers, shamers, and control freaks–whacking off desperately in their great big bed. I wrote about them here, and you can find their 2008 statement here, but the original link to the “organization” is gone. Here are the relevant parts: Continue Reading →
NEW JERSEY UPDATE – S799 PASSES SENATE. ADOPTEES JILTED
Bye Bye rights! As expected S799 passed a floor vote today in the New Jersey Senate 27-10. The bogus obc rights bill now goes to the Assembly. Even though we oppose the bill, we are galled that opponents spout protectionist drivel: Many of them may not know what we are doing here,” Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen) said of biological mothers, adding that would not give them the opportunity to protect their identities. He suggested the bill be reworked to protect the rights of everyone involved. and proponents think this is some kind of heathcare bill:“While we heard compelling testimony when this bill was before the Health Committee, the most compelling argument to me is the importance of accurate family medical histories in making major health care decisions,” said Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), a sponsor. Under the bill, biological parents who want to remain anonymous would notify the state registrar. During the one-year allotted period, adoptees would be able to contact the agencies that handled their adoptions to get nonidentifying medical information, including a family medical history, that could alert them to any genetic predispositions they may carry for certain illnesses. We wonder what the State of Jersey will do when Continue Reading →
ILLINOIS OPEN/BASTARD NATION PRESS RELEASE: ADOPTEE RIGHTS SQUASHED AGAIN IN NEW ILLINOIS BILL – HB 5428““““““““““““““““““““““`
ILLINOIS OPENhttp://www.ilopen.org BASTARD NATION: THE ADOPTEE RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONwww.bastard.org distribute freely! ___________________________________________________________________ PRESS RELEASEMarch 22, 2010For Immediate Release CONTACT INFORMATIONAnita Walker Field, 1-847-677-0594 Marley Greiner, 1-614-571-2999Mary Lynn Fuller, 1-217-722-4814 ADOPTEE RIGHTS SQUASHED AGAIN IN NEW ILLINOIS BILL – HB 5428 On March 19, 2010, The Illinois House of Representatives passed a bill that purports to give all adopted adults access to their original birth certificates. On March 23, 2010, HB 5428 GOES TO THE SENATE, awaiting committee assignment. 1. Under HB 5428, birth mothers will be allowed to file affidavits of denial – meaning that a birth mother can veto an adoptee’s right to access his or her original birth certificate. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STEP TO TAKE. IT CREATES AND CODIFIES A NEW RIGHT THAT HAS NEVER BEFORE BEEN IN OUR ADOPTION ACT. 2. Allows the state to delete a variety of identifying information from official documents, depending upon a birth mother’s response. We believe: HB 5428 needs to be amended in the Senate so that it would restore to ALL adoptees access to their original birth certificates, without any restrictions, such as prior parental approval. If that cannot happen, then HB 5428 must be pulled or left to die Continue Reading →
BASTARD NATION LETTER TO NJ SENATE: VOTE NO ON S799
Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization, the largest adoptee civil rights organization in North America, opposes S799. We recommend that this bill be defeated on the Senate floor S799 permits some New Jersey adopted adults to receive their true and accurate original birth certificates. Others, through the compromise language of the birthparent disclosure veto, will receive only a false and mutilated government document with the name and address of the parent(s) bureaucratically excised by the Department of Health and Senior Services by order of the birthparent(s). Bastard Nation rejects the special right of birthparents to remove their names from the birth certificates of their own adult offspring. No other parent has that right. Why should birthparents have different rules? We are also troubled that the bill requires birthparents, under specific circumstances, to submit a medical and health history to the state, a requirement that is most likely illegal under HIPAA and other privacy laws. Since 1999 four states have restored to adoptees the unrestricted right to records and identity access: Oregon through ballot initiative, and Alabama, New Hampshire, and Maine through legislation. Why should New Jersey buck the tide and pass a bill that continues to treat adoptee access to Continue Reading →
BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT: STOP NEW JERSEY S799. SENATE VOTE SCHEDULED FOR MONDAY
BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT Please forward freely STOP DISCLOSURE VETO/WHITE OUT LEGISLATION IN NEW JERSEY!!! ASK THE NEW JERSEY SENATE TO VOTE NO ON S799 DON’T LET PASSAGE OF BAD LEGISLATION IN NEW JERSEY THREATEN EFFORTS IN OTHER STATES FOR TRUE EQUAL ACCESS FOR ADULT ADOPTEES!! IT’S BACK! S799 , (formerlyA752) is scheduled for a floor vote in the New Jersey Senate March 22, 2010. Please contact Senate members immediately and urge them to VOTE NO ON S799. See contact information below.If you are from or in New Jersey or have a New Jersey connection, be sure to mention it in your communication. Be sure to put: “S799 Adoptee Birthright Bill – Please Vote NO” in the header S799 is: restrictive, discriminatory, creates a new, special and temporary ”right” for “birthparents,” and exempts the state’s adopted adults from equal protection and treatment regarding the release of the government-generated public record of their births. The bill: *includes a 12- month open enrollment period, starting after the Department of Health releases regs for S799 implementation, that allows “birthparents,” to file disclosure vetoes before obcs, past and future, are unsealed *authorizes the state to replace the original birth certificate, of those subjected to Continue Reading →
The Sheraton: Bastardette Not Banned or Arrested
Long time readers will remember when They Whose Names Must Not Be Spoken, in a fit of snit, claimed that Bastard Nation and Bastaradette had been banned from the Sheraton hotel chain for life. The current AAC conference, in fact, is at the Sheraton Grand Hotel on J Street. When I entered no sirens, whistles and beeps went off, and so far I’ve not been followed around by hotel security to monitor attitude and intent. I’m only attending sessions that interest me, which naturally limit what I’m doing here. (I forgot my Klennix box!) I’ve spent a lot of time walking around town, so here are some pictures. Note, that I prefer things over people. Our CalOpen get-together at PF Chang’s drew over a dozen people.