Archives for February 2010

Abortion takes the lives of blacks disproportionately. And reported in The Times, no less. All the very horrifying news that’s fit to print:

Abortion opponents say the number is so high because abortion clinics are deliberately located in black neighborhoods and prey upon black women. The evidence, they say, is everywhere: Planned Parenthood’s response to the anti-abortion ad that aired during theSuper Bowl featured two black athletes, they note, and several women’s clinics offered free services — including abortions — to evacuees after Hurricane Katrina.

If there is something more annoying than a random bag of milk rupturing and slowly leaking inside your fridge, what is it?

Yikes:

Almost 6 percent of American women, that’s 7.5 million adult women, report using prescription medicines for a boost of energy, a dose of calm or other non-medical reasons, according to the latest numbers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

“Many may not consider what they’re doing abuse because they’re using a prescribed drug,” says Susan R.B. Weiss, chief of NIDA’s Science Policy Branch. “Many of these medications are being taken as performance-enhancers.”

[…]

To blame may be what some are calling the superwoman syndrome. Overworked, overwhelmed and overscheduled women juggling families, friends and careers are turning to stimulants, painkillers and anti-anxiety meds to help launch them through endless to-do lists.

I have no idea whether that’s true or not – I’m sure there are all kinds of reasons people take drugs, and they probably don’t all have to do with trying to do too much. But hey. If you find yourself so overwhelmed that you need anti-anxiety meds, maybe what you need is a break instead. Take it from someone who’s gone through a few burn-outs and has learned this lesson the very (very) hard way: Less is almost always more.

Seriously: I haven’t watched five minutes of Olympics coverage (one, I don’t have television, two, I don’t have time these days to watch anything, and three, the limited time I get for athleticism I spend in my dojo). But I’m enjoying stories like this, and this:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Even after nearly 20 years of skating and traveling the world with his ice dance partner Isabelle Delobel, Olivier Schoenfelder was never expecting the phone call he received from her last winter.

The good news: Delobel was pregnant. The bad news: Delobel was pregnant and the Winter Olympics were in little more than a year.

[…]

The petite, dark-haired Delobel and the tall, blond Schoenfelder, both from France, were world champions in 2008 and were looking like favorites for the gold medal in Vancouver after climbing the ranks for many years, an ice dance prerequisite, and finishing fourth in the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy.

But a shoulder injury that Delobel sustained in December 2008 during an exhibition interrupted their season, and it was during her injury layoff that she became pregnant.

“I was still convinced we’d make it to the Olympics,” said Delobel, 31, in an interview after the compulsory dance Friday night in Vancouver.

The reaction from their rivals is a blend of admiration for Delobel’s ability to return so quickly and of sympathy for Schoenfelder.

[…]

Though Delobel continued to train and skate deep into her pregnancy, even suffering the occasional fall in practice, she left the ice in late July, giving birth on Oct. 1 to a son, Loïs, and then returning to practice in late October at their longtime training base in Lyon, France. She began three-a-day sessions and intense physical training in November.

“You better believe it was tough,” said Delobel, who had gained close to 20 pounds during pregnancy. “It was really a physical challenge, but I’m proud to have managed it.”

And she has every right to be. Well done!

I wish I could say we’re making this up:

Anti-smoking porn?  Only in France.

And you thought the lap-dancing teachers in Winnipeg were setting a bad example… Apparently we Canadians have nothing on the French.  Here comes news of a new anti-smoking ad that is causing quite a stir in France.  You can judge for yourself, but the porn-inspired photos leave little to the imagination.

Right here in Canada, I mean.

OTTAWA ­- Infant mortality rates are up for the first time in Canada since 1982, according to new numbers released by Statistics Canada Tuesday.

The infant mortality rate rose slightly from 2006 to 2007, up to 5.1 from 5.0 per 1,000 live births, a 6.2% increase from 2006 to 2007.

That’s the first increase in the infant mortality rate since 1982, when the rate was at 9.1 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. Boy and girl death rates increased at the same rate.

The story does not offer anything by way of explanation, and I must admit I don’t have time to go looking for one (workworkwork you know). Anyone with more info, please send it in.

The idea that women earn less than men is a mainstay idea of old school feminists. That’s it’s not true would take the wind out of their sales and funding out of their pockets.

This column is all about how if women do earn less than men it’s typically for very good reasons, like they work fewer hours:

Few people would advocate more women living in poverty, but if we are going to have a serious discussion of how best to tackle the issue that more women than men live in poverty, we need to face reality. Sadly, the report issued by a collection of advocacy groups fails miserably on that count. The group uses conjecture rather than facts and when confronted with facts, changes the rules to suit themselves.

If women have bridged a gender wage gape, why perpetuate the old myth?

This post features a video outlining the rights of pro-life clubs on campus. In the U.S., that is – not everything in there can be of use in Canada. But some of it might.