Dear Governor Schwarzenegger -

I read today that your personal medical records were among those that had been inappropriately accessed at UCLA Medical Center, along with actress Farrah Fawcett and your wife Maria Shriver.

Now you are suddenly a proponent of expanded privacy protections. I wish I could be sympathetic.

You and your administration have designed a process that makes separate check boxes for Domestic Partners and Married couples. Every time I go to the doctor, apply for car insurance, file my taxes, complete a DBA, apply for a EDD license, pay my property taxes or visit the DMV I am not only reminded that my relationship “isn’t quite marriage” but that fact is also broadcast to every person who sees my form.

Now I don’t mind being out and proud, but that decision to be differentiated and marginalized should be my own, not my government’s, and certainly not my governor’s.

For everybody’s personal privacy, please let domestic partners get married in California.

Yours,

Basic H2 ™ 64oz. is Green Seal™ Certified!

Basic H2 Super Cleaning Concentrate 64oz. is now Green Seal Certified! Green Seal is an independent organization that helps promote environmentally responsible products and services for industrial use. Basic H2 meets the Green Seal standard for industrial & institutional cleaning products (GS-37). This means that the product must:

• Be sold in concentrated form
• Contain recyclable packaging
• Pass a cleaning efficacy test
• Remain non-corrosive to skin or eyes
• Pass oral, inhalation, dermal and aquatic toxicity tests
• Pass a biodegradability test
• Exclude prohibited ingredients - including heavy metals, alkylphenol ethoxylates, dibutyl phthalate, ozone depleting chemicals and IARC listed chemicals

Shaklee Distributors can now market Basic H2 64 oz. to industrial, institutional and government organizations that require Green Seal certification on products. The formula has not changed.
For more information on Green Seal, please visit www.Greenseal.org.

And, did you know that Basic H2 Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate makes a great degreaser?! Independent and Shaklee field testing shows that Basic H2 when used at 2 oz. in a gallon of water is actually better than Basic I! So use Basic H2 Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate to clean up your greasiest messes, from barbecues to ovens.
Be sure to use the new Degreasing spray bottle to make greasy clean up jobs a snap! Just use 1½ teaspoons in a Get Clean 16 oz. spray bottle.

The Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill architectural firm has unveiled their latest green superstructure, The Clean Technology Tower, to be built in Chicago. Besides being gorgeous, the tower will live up to it’s name, using a multitude of sustainable technologies. Sustainable technologies are no longer in their infancy, and as a result, we will be seeing a lot more green structures like this marvel. From AS+GG:

Building on principles of biomimicry, Clean Technology Tower utilizes advanced technologies and climate-appropriate building systems to foster a symbiotic relationship with its local environment.

Those technologies include a roof-top solar shell with an atrium of wind turbines below it. From Inhabitat:

More than just a showy face, the tower’s aerodynamic front funnels wind through turbines that are strategically located at the corners and roof of the structure. These placements maximize wind velocity, which drives the turbines to generate power and ventilate the tower’s interior. A transparent solar roof tops the structure off, ready to soak up the southern sun.

Anyone who’s ever been to Chi-Town knows there’s plenty of wind coming off Lake Michigan, so they’ve picked the right place to build this baby. The tower will boast over 1.8 million square feet of office space, a 300,000 square foot hotel, a spa, retail space, and unparalleled views of the city.