Archives for 2010

You know, I don’t really care what method they use. Executing women for “adultery” is wrong, wrong, wrong.

I know it will be controversial, but it shouldn’t be. Here’s a piece I wrote for the Calgary Herald explaining why.

Quite a touching clip on why opposition to legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia is important. I don’t actually think you have to have any faith at all to relate. In matters of life and death, on the precautionary principle alone, we should stand on the side of life because our own understanding is always limited.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0LXYsvdpUI”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0LXYsvdpUI]

When I think of Brazil and poverty, the film City of God comes to mind. Shanty towns overfilled and run by drug-lords dominate parts of Rio de Janeiro, so it will take a strong personality to cause the kind of change so desperately needed. From CNN:

(CNN) — Brazil’s new president-elect vowed to continue her predecessor’s move to fight against inequality and promote human rights and fight poverty in her victory speech Sunday night.

“My mission is to eradicate poverty,” Dilma Rousseff said after the country’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal declared her the winner in Sunday’s runoff election.

As the nation’s first woman to hold the office, Rousseff said she has a mission to fight for more gender equality in Brazil.

“I hope the fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say yes, women can.”

Previously a left-wing guerilla fighter, Rousseff is taking her passion (and pro-life position) to the presidential office.

…London, UK! As the abortion capital of Europe! Come on down and accept your prize!

Read about abortion in England, here.

Couple of small problems with the article. For one, the murder of George Tiller seems to be stacked up with 40 Days for Life (students: Please compare and contrast the murder of a man in church with a silent sidewalk prayer vigil). Second, the author astutely notes that in the UK, no one bothers to protest abortion anymore (it’s just so commonplace) but that it is also more likely to be used as birth control. Go figure.

Watch here. Interesting concept, having live women sit in windows for sale to prove a point. Almost graphic, isn’t it. Shocking. Unless and until it’s made legal, in which case, it’s all apparently dandy and fine. Nothing to see here, move along, folks!

Anyhoo. I like the quote from the former prostitute. If you don’t get a chance to watch, the news story basically says she got into the business at 12 and she is emphatic that no one ever chooses to have whatever someone else wants done to her body. (And yes, the link between prostitution and human trafficking is very real.)

An interesting article on marketing from Forbes:

Of course, niche marketing is nothing new. Focusing on specific demographics – women between the ages of 20 and 30, say, or gray-haired men who play baseball – is an enormous part of how marketing is done.  But the latest such trend has some people seriously worried – and for good reason.

On October 30, marketing executives from companies like Pepsico, Ogilvy & Mather, and Best Buy will convene to absorb the wisdom of speakers like Safaa Zarzour, Secretary General of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an organization withknown affiliations to terror groups like Hamas. The goal: to raise awareness of the buying power of the Muslim market, and to encourage sharia-compliant branding through the creation of halal products–products which conform to the tenets of sharia (Islamic) law.  (Though usually understood to refer to meat, “halal-compliance” can include other foods, as well as bath products and even clothing.)

Is this smart?

Ogilvy & Mather think so, as do many corporate giants: KFC has introduced halal chicken in many of its U.K. franchises, and Campbell’s recently introduced a halal-compliant soup (are you listening, Andy Warhol?).  Other companies on the halal bandwagon include Nestlé (one of the pioneers in the market), Domino’s, and Subway. According to the Web site for the October 30 American Muslim Consumers Conference(AMCC), “the consumer preferences of the world’s nearly 1.5 billion Muslims are faith-based, and largely non-negotiable.”

[…]

* Jews who follow kosher laws may not consume halal foods, which are blessed with a prayer to Allah. Sharia-compliant Muslims, however (despite the AMCC claims that they can eat nothing that is not halal), are in fact permitted to consume kosher foods, providing that they otherwise conform to halal rules, such as being all-natural and alcohol-free.

It just goes to show that when we’re talking about marketing, whether it’s chicken or sexual health, providers care very little about the social impacts so long as it doesn’t effect their bottom line.

As you may be aware, Tuesday is election day in the United States of America. I don’t claim to be an expert on US politics but I’ll be watching the California race keenly. Carly Fiorina, accomplished HP executive (Republican and pro-life) is challenging Barbara Boxer, the Democrat incumbent, who is pro-abortion. I’ll let you guess who I hope wins.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watchv=VlSR3v42HFI&feature=player_embedded”>http://www.youtube.com/watchv=VlSR3v42HFI&feature=player_embedded]

Here’s the secret to postponing motherhood successfully. Have part of your ovary removed and frozen in your teen years, so that you can have fresh (so to speak) eggs when you’re old. It’s so simple!

Dr Sherman Silber told the American Society for Reproductive Medicine meeting in Denver a woman could freeze her ovary at 19 to use when she was 40.

Dr Silber, who says the procedure would work better than egg freezing, did the first full ovary transplant in 2007.

But UK experts warned ovary freezing had not been sufficiently tested.

No sh*it, Sherlock. (Pardon my French.) Think there might be some slight problem with this “solution” to what isn’t a problem? Having trouble conceiving in your 40s in not abnormal, people. Get a grip!

[h/t]

Someone please tell me why Iran is about to be a part of the board of the UN agency promoting equality for women?

It would be great if Iran was actually interested in promoting equality for women, but their track record says otherwise.

________________________

Brigitte, of course, has a smarty-pants answer ready: Easy. That’s because the UN is upside-down.