Sam Aanestad calls the California Right to Know End-of-Life Options Act an unnecessary “intrusion” into the doctor-patient relationship.

At Compassion and Choices, the nation’s largest end-of-life choice organization, we see things differently. We know talking about death won’t kill you. If patients aren’t ready to hear the truth, they won’t ask for it. No one should force an unwelcome conversation, but the Right to Know Act doesn’t do that. When patients do ask, they want and deserve accurate, complete information. And then, no one should keep it from them.

The Right to Know End-of-Life Options Act (AB 2747), written by Assembly members Patty Berg and Lloyd Levine, passed the California Legislature and now awaits the governor’s signature. This landmark law simply requires that when a terminally ill person asks about end-of-life options, doctors tell them about all legal choices. Aanestad asserts patients don’t need this kind of information and claims it would do more harm than good. Well, let’s allow patients to make that decision for themselves.

Compassion and Choices sponsored the Right to Know Act because we know dying patients may suffer greatly without crucial information. We also know people with end-stage cancer may suffer through rigorous, futile chemotherapy treatments weeks or even days before death because they think they have no choice. Doctors are not always straightforward about the true prognosis and offer false hope. As a result, treatments can leave patients too weak for spending quality time with loved ones, rectifying relationships or seeking spiritual peace. When patients have full information about all of their options, they are empowered to knowingly choose – or refuse – difficult treatment.

Research is on our side. The May issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology reported terminal patients who have an end-of-life discussion with their physician are more likely to receive hospice care and less likely to enter an Intensive Care Unit.

Another recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association lists study after study showing that oncologists often continue aggressive chemotherapy long after it is likely to extend life.

Aanestad seems to believe that withholding this crucial information is a humane way to deal with people who are dying. As an organization working with the dying for 28 years, we know information and counseling regarding end-of-life care options is essential to the comfort and peace of many terminally ill patients and their families. These poignant conversations help patients weigh all options and make an informed decision that reflects their values and beliefs. It gives the physician an opportunity for a heartfelt discussion of the benefits and risks of all available treatments, and it can facilitate earlier access to hospice care.

AB 2747 does all of these things. It offers peace and comfort to patients and their families who want to know more. This is why we urge Gov. Schwarzenneger to sign the bill. Knowledge won’t kill you, but cancer will. How can we withhold the information that can bring so much comfort and peace of mind to those deciding how to spend their last days on earth?

Barbara Coombs Lee is president of Compassion and Choices, a nonprofit group focused on end-of-life issues.

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Unity was a key message at this past week's Democratic National Convention. Photo courtesy of Wanda Harris.

DENVER – On Friday, after spending the week in Denver for the Democratic National Convention, we were congratulating ourselves for deciding to wait until Saturday to fly home.

We all managed to get volunteer assignments at Invesco Center for Sen. Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday night, which gave us great seats for the evening activities. It also meant we had to file out of the arena along with 86,000 other supporters, walk a mile to the light rail station, catch the free mall bus, remember where we parked our rental van, locate it and drive to our condo 20 minutes away in Arvada. After sharing our experiences for the day and having a midnight snack our heads hit the pillows about 2 a.m.

We all agreed that the evening was awesome and that we definitely have a winning team for November.

By now you have all watched the speeches or seen snippets of them on the news so we will just say that being in the Pepsi Center when they were delivered and feeling the passion and enthusiasm of each of the speakers and the crowd was awe inspiring and history making and we were grateful and honored to be here.

Hillary Clinton’s speech reconfirmed to her 18 million diehard supporters the reason we were on her team to the bitter end and helped to woo over many of those who were not yet on the Obama bandwagon.

Michelle Obama – as she related the values, dedication and passion her husband feels about America and the American people, particularly those without a voice – helped us to renew our desire to work harder in our own Lake County to help elect like-minded candidates.

President Bill Clinton’s address reminded us of a better time in America when we could afford to fill our tanks and buy groceries without the need to use monies from our savings to do so. His five-minute standing ovation was a testament to his ongoing popularity with Democrats.

Sen. Dennis Kucinich whipped the crowd into a frenzy as he spoke of the need for social change in our country.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, giving perhaps his last address to a Democratic National Convention, stated that nothing could keep him away from this one. Speaking with a clear voice he assured the crowd, which honored him with numerous outbursts of applause, that he would be back in the capitol and ready to get back to work in January.

Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden helped all understand why Obama chose him as a running mate and wife Jill surprised us all when she mentioned a special guest and Barack Obama appeared. People who were trying to make a quick getaway came running back to their seats.

California was well represented with our share of speakers taking the podium and chair of the party, Art Torres, stating during the roll call vote, “California Passes.”

Pros of this convention included great speeches, terrific music and musicians, fun people watching, nice weather most of the time and friendly Denverites.

Cons were transportation, the worst we have every seen and had to endure every day; credentials were picked up at the Denver Center every morning followed by an eight-block walk to the shuttle buses that dropped everyone off a mile from the security check point. After arriving there bags were checked by security followed by another long walk into the Pepsi Center. We have all started the exercise program scheduled for next Monday a week early. The organization of volunteers left much to be desired but it can’t be easy to coordinate 10,000 volunteers.

Overall, it was an experience to remember and treasure for a lifetime.

Wanda Harris – along with other fellow Lake County Democrats Becky Curry, Sunol Westergren and Wendy White – attended the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week.

President Bill Clinton looks on during a speech at the convention. Photo courtesy of Wanda Harris.

Sen. Ted Kennedy addresses the convention. Photo courtesy of Wanda Harris.

Mile High Stadium, where Sen. Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech. Photo courtesy of Wanda Harris.

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Wanda Harris (center) and fellow delegates at the Democratic National Convention. Courtesy photo.

DENVER – With the arrival of Becky Curry and Wendy White (who came by motorcycle from her home In Glenhaven) on Monday the Lake County contingent is present and accounted for at the Democratic National Convention.

Those of us who arrived earlier checked into the volunteer headquarters to try and secure positions at the Pepsi Center where all the action would be taking place.

Sunol Westergren landed a spot on the Green Team and Wanda Harris was accepted on Access Control/Security at the Pepsi Center and worked on level three seating honorary cuests, coming full circle from the prior conventions when she “was” one.

The good news is the position comes with a center stage view of all the speeches. All the Lake County attendees have a chance to work at Invesco Center on Thursday night when Barack Obama delivers his acceptance speech.

The excitement here is unlike anything any of us has experienced before … there was not an empty seat in the Pepsi Monday night when Howard Dean gaveled the delegates to order, which if not mistaken is a record for Democratic conventions.

The opening night speakers were received with thunderous applause and none more enthusiastically then Sen. Edward Kennedy whose remarks brought everyone to their feet several times.

Michelle Obama’s remarks brought tears to the eyes of many of the young volunteers, both male and female, who have been attracted to the political arena for the first time by the excitement of the promise of CHANGE that Barack and Michelle Obama bring.

The people watching is unprecedented … seen so far up close and personal … Anderson Cooper, Ted Koppel, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former California Gov. Gray Davis, Gloria Allred and Caroline Kennedy.

On Wednesday we gathered to join the women’s march in honor of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the 88^th anniversary of women’s right to vote, attending Emily’s List event where Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton. It was another full but very exciting day.

Wanda Harris, Becky Curry, Sunol Westergren and Wendy White are Lake County delegates to the Democratic National Convention, held in Denver this week.

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We all know that politicians exaggerate, embellish and enhance their stories. And sometimes, we suspect, they outright lie, which isn't very smart in this age of electronic record-keeping.

McCain-Palin supporters are trying to pass her off as a feminist with statements like this: "Palin's candidacy brings both figurative and literal feminist change." (Article at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/06/INB312NP3M.DTL&type=politics)

Being a working mother and being elected to office do not make you a feminist. Hard-working, ambitious – yes. Not necessarily a feminist. The essence of feminism is refusing to tolerate victimization of women in any area – economic, social, health, education, opportunity.

The GOP team would work to ban all abortion, "even in the case of rape," Sarah Palin said. There is no area where women have been more victimized than in rape. Rape cases are seriously under-reported because the survivors are unwilling to face the common disbelief, and the subsequent trial, when their entire life history might be put on display and questioned as if they were the person on trial.

A friend tells me that when she was raped and beaten nearly to death 30 years ago in Vallejo, the detective handling the case said to her, "A woman can run faster with her skirt up than a man can run with his pants down around his ankles." That's a fairly mild example of the disdain, disbelief and humiliation that women reporting rape often have to endure.

Palin did her best to increase the victimization while she was mayor of the small town of Wasilla, Alaska, from 1996 to 2002.

A story in the Mat-Su Frontiersman on May 23, 2000, reported that Wasilla was charging women who reported being raped $300 to $1,200 for the forensic exam kit used in the investigations. It was picked up by America Blog (http://www.americablog.com/2008/09/wasilla-charged-rape-victims-for-their.html) a couple of days ago and has since been reported on television.

Alaska Governor Tony Knowles had signed legislation protecting victims of sexual assault from being billed for tests to collect evidence of the crime. The Alaska State Troopers and most municipal police agencies covered the cost of exams, but Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon didn't agree with the new legislation. He said the new law would cost the Wasilla Police Department approximately $5,000 to $14,000 a year to collect evidence for sexual assault cases. He was Palin's appointee, after she fired the former chief who didn't fully support the policies.

The Anchorage Daily News reported that at the time the city was paying a lobbyist, hired by Palin, $40,500 yearly to seek earmark funding in Washington, DC (www.adn.com/sarah-palin/background/story/194505.html).

Spin me any yarn you want about what a good mother she is, how she managed to fight the Good Ol' Boys while getting their support, why she had to charge the state for overnights in her own home (a 30-mile commute from her state office in Anchorage) or why she even bothered to talk to the city librarian about banning books – just don't try to tell me she's a feminist, OK?

Sophie Annan Jensen is a retired journalist. She lives in Lucerne.

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They really believe it is "God's will" that a marriage contract can only be between one man and one woman and that this has been "the definition of marriage since the dawn of time," as it's poetically put by Frank Schubert, who is co-managing the Yes on 8 campaign.

That must create an uncomfortable disconnect for Yes on 8 leader Michael Bumgarner, a retired insurance executive and devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, with a long history of marriages involving one man and several women.

Schubert heads the Sacramento political consulting firm Schubert Flint Public Affairs. One of the partners is Richard Wiebe, a former California deputy insurance commissioner.

Oh wait – insurance again? Isn't that the industry that was so prominent in opposing the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s?

Ellie Smeal, founder of the Fund for a Feminist Majority and former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), reported this to the 1995 National NOW Conference: "The real opposition to the ERA was silent and stayed in the background." For example, during the Illinois campaign for passage of the ERA, Smeal was shown an internal General Electric memo outlining their reasons for opposing the ERA. She says, "It talked about wages, benefits, health insurance and money. At the time women were making 59 cents for every man's dollar. Someone was pocketing 41 cents. If you think the ERA was a debate about the draft or single-sex toilets, you're wrong; it was and is about money.

"Insurance companies were also major players behind the defeat of the ERA. They wanted to continue their discriminatory practices. In Florida, the 'dean' of the Senate was a partner in a law firm that represented 14 insurance companies. Guess which way the Florida Senate voted? The same was true in many other states; the number one ERA opponent in Louisiana was a state legislator who was an insurance defense attorney."

A major contributor to the Yes on 8 campaign is the Knights of Columbus, which kicked in a million dollars recently. Easy to understand, right? The K of C is a Catholic men's organization, very active in charity work, very family-oriented. And did you know the Knights' 1.7 million members include "over 1,200 full-time life insurance professionals"? They do far more than sell insurance, but it is a major function of the organization and a major reason to join. See www.kofc.org/un/insurance/index.cfm.

The ERA says this: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

The campaign against it relied on some pretty twisted arguments, including drafting women into military service. And today we have no draft. Unisex toilets were a prominent threat, although they don't seem to have caused the downfall of some European countries which have them, or of the many families which share a bathroom.

The current arguments seem equally silly. Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in May of 2004, and California in May this year. Canada approved it in 2005,the Netherlands in 2000,Spain in 2005 – you can read more about other countries' laws at www.ilga-europe.org/europe/issues/marriage_and_partnership/marriage_and_partnership_rights_for_same_sex_partners_country_by_country.

If those laws have caused problems for heterosexuals in any of those places, the stories are not showing up on Internet searches.

For insurance companies, the ERA would have meant equalizing pay for many women employees, and extending benefits to women that, in some cases, were reserved for men. Today, some companies offer a broader range of benefits to spouses than to domestic partners. At a minimum, insurance companies will have considerable expense for revising and rewriting their policies.

This isn't about California. It's about precedent for a nationwide spread.

Here's the good news: Equality can be good for business. The Boston Globe reports Provincetown's tourist business has been revitalized since Massachusetts repealed a 1913 law which banned same-sex marriages for out-of-staters.

Full disclosure: Sophie Annan Jensen has no dog in this fight. She's a straight woman who intends to stay happily unmarried. She doesn't know of any gay relatives and has no interest in her friends' sex lives. She has always supported the ERA.

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Is this really the message we want to give our youth and our community? That they need to escape Lake County, any way they can, even if it means exposing them to the casualties of war to do so? Or is there a better answer? Could it be that we are at the point where we are lacking personal responsibility, creativity, knowledge and wisdom to the detriment of our community and our children?

I do not believe it is a mistake that the Chinese word for “crisis” is written with two simple but opposing characters, one symbolizing “danger” and the other symbolizing “opportunity.” As terrible as the unemployment crisis, the economic crisis, the oil crisis and the mortgage crisis is, each crisis has given us the chance to begin exploring new avenues of awareness and opportunities.

The question we need to be asking ourselves is whether we will choose awareness and opportunity over ignorance and abandonment. Will we jump ship and encourage others to jump ship just because the storm is approaching and the seas are getting a bit rough or will we take command of the wheel and navigate our ship into a vast sea of opportunity? The opportunity is out there, if we just take a moment to look for it. I took a few moments, myself, to look for the opportunity within the crisis and I found some opportunities I would like to share.

First, we can all begin by buying and selling local. One of the best ways to stimulate a local economy and local jobs is to support local business owned and operated by local people who will in turn do the same.

Here’s an idea, instead of going to a corporate-owned chain where fat corporations get paid and very few local people ever see the money, allow your purchasing power to strengthen the local economy by supporting locally owned businesses so the jobs produced are long-lasting. You may be surprised that the new Starbucks has hired and fired more people since it has opened than any of the locally owned coffee shops. So, why not invest in a neighbor who actually cares about keeping their employees and customers happy? It definitely couldn’t hurt.

Shopping local not only makes good economic sense, it also makes good green sense, especially when you are buying local products from local people. That is because when you support local people, such as artisans, farmers, winemakers, etc., you are also creating less pollution and saving more oil because neither you nor the items have to travel very far for the transaction to be made. With all the talk of the oil crisis at hand, it just makes sense to begin to support and maintain our local resources.

We can also use one of our greatest technological resources to find new sources of income. Did you know the fastest-growing job market is right in your own home? Home businesses are surging, due to gas prices, traffic and the accessibility of the Internet. Your computer is probably one of the best job resources you have, when considering a home business. There are boundless opportunities, just waiting for you, over the Internet. Places like Elance (www.elance.com/p/landing/buyer.html?rid=1121E) and Worldwide Work At Home (www.worldwideworkathome.com/freelance.html) reveal a vast amount of leads for freelance work which can be done entirely at home.

As well, the technology of the Internet takes us one more step into the future. Social networking is no longer social but professional, thanks to places like Wowzza (www.wowzzapower.com/index2.php?siteID=227262) and DirectMatches (www.directmatches.com/default2.asp?site=shamancola) which list a multitude of online business opportunities.

In addition, blogging has gone professional, as well, having the potential to earn hundreds of thousands a year (www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/21/BUVJSNSTC.DTL), especially, if you are a blogger who takes advantage of affiliate marketing programs like Clickbank (www.clickbank.com/index.html) and Commission Junction (www.cj.com/) for affiliate leads.

Amazingly enough, the newest craze is surrounding resurgence of network marketing and MLM businesses. They are popping up everywhere and they are popping up for a reason. The old network marketing and mlm businesses have a new and improved twist on them these days, and are definitely worth looking into. This is because, due to the latest technologies, network and mlm marketers no longer need to turn to friends, family and neighbors in order to succeed. In fact, there is even an e-report and book (http://mss.the7greatliesofnetworkmarketing.com/) about how network marketing has evolved and what you can do to take advantage of the evolution. There is an entire world out there to generate leads from, today.

In addition, some of them have little to no startup costs and don’t require any needless buying or selling. Solutions like The Spiderweb System (http://myspideysense.com/) offer e-products and e-tools both you and your network actually need when conducting network marketing, professional networking, affiliate marketing, mlm marketing, blogging or any other online business which allows while you to earn money through affiliate commissions rather than sales. The best part, all of these opportunities and solutions are as close as the nearest computer.

In addition, there are now a multitude of “green” opportunities just waiting to be discovered and implemented. Urbanhabitat.org (http://www.urbanhabitat.org/node/528) has listed a few. Before looking for a job or a business opportunity, why not take some time to focus on “green” jobs and “green” businesses within Lake County which would offer you and others something unique?

I visited Hopland’s Solar Living Institute this weekend for their Solfest which was a tremendous success. People came from all over the world to come to this “green” event. Now, there is a plan in the works for a “green” motel, right across the street. Where are our green motels, our green gift shops, our green businesses and green jobs? These things would not be too difficult to create, considering Lake County is actually one of the last few places in California that has some “green” left in it and already attracts a decent amount of tourists.

We could use the example of San Mateo County (www.recycleworks.org/green_business/index.html) to learn from and we could even create a green guide (www.greensantabarbara.com/) as Santa Barbara has to promote green businesses within the community. With eco-tourism on the rise, we could boost our economy and help our preserve and protect our precious natural surroundings simply by going green and creating a buzz about it through places like Green Vacation Hub (www.greenvacationhub.com/) and GreenBiz (www.greenbiz.com) which would not only attract eco-tourists but ecologically minded residents and businesses. We could we create a multitude of green businesses and green jobs, we could possibly a green community and a green economy, which could serve as a model for others and a terrific green eco-tourist destination, all at the same time.

Throughout history, some of the most successful people are the ones who see opportunity where others do not. Perhaps, we need to simply open our eyes more to the possibilities rather than opening our mouths about the impossibilities.

If we truly begin to see the “opportunity” in our crisis, we would realize that we don’t need to leave Lake County (or encourage anyone else to do so) just to find work. In fact, I would encourage people to stay in Lake County and utilize the incredible resources we have which allow us the opportunity to build a better place for future generations.

Andrea Anderson lives in Lakeport.

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