Archives for 2010

A follow up post to the maternal health saga of last week. This week I will be writing Mr. Dave Toycen of World Vision a letter, because this press release says World Vision is partnering with Action Canada Population and Development. I’ll ask why they chose to do so. Does World Vision believe abortion is part of maternal health? If not, how did Action Canada wheedle their way in to this otherwise good group of charities? I need to hear a concrete answer. This press release doesn’t look good.

At this post, you’ll find a YouTube summary of coverage of the March for Life in the US. It gets old to keep hearing about the inaccurate coverage, but this clip is at least a bit humourous, in particular when the narrator points out the inability of CNN to count. Yes, count. Math is hard! Still, I believe it is a skill we can all learn.

Good news:

An Interim investigation has found that over the past half decade, the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health has had its federal government grants cut by more than 99 per cent.

The federation, formerly the Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada and still the Canadian member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, has charitable status, according to the Canada Revenue Agency. The CFSH says on its website that it “promote(s) sexual and reproductive health and rights in Canada and abroad.” It also admits being a “pro-choice organization.” Its member affiliates, which operate in all 10 provinces, provide sex information, contraception and abortion referrals; according to REAL Women of Canada, it is the leading abortion referral service in Canada.

I don’t think pro-choice (or pro-abortion) organizations should receive government funding. I also don’t believe pro-life (or anti-abortion) organizations should receive government funding. If I had my druthers, nobody would receive government funding – we’d all finance our causes ourselves, like the big boys and girls we say we are.

[h/t]

Hey, not that this past week was crazier than usual or anything [ahem, yes it was – ed.] but it appears we forgot to mark the second anniversary of ProWomanProLife.

Happy Birthday to Us!

As it should be:

KANSAS CITY – A man accused of gunning down one of America’s few late-term abortion providers was found guilty of first-degree murder on Friday after he said he had to act to stop the doctor from performing more abortions.

Scott Roeder, 51, was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated assault by a Wichita, Kansas jury which deliberated for just over 30 minutes. The case attracted anti-abortion protesters from around the nation to support Roeder.

Well, that may be. But this anti-abortion protester does not support murder, no matter who’s committing it.

One week today I’m going to talk at University of Ottawa on the idea that being pro-life is a distinctly pro-woman stand. It’s all going down on Friday, February 5, at 7 pm in Lamoureux Hall, Room 122, courtesy of the talented students of Ottawa Students for life. On that note, check out Rebecca Richmond’s blog for January 28:

In class this morning I was chatting with the guy who sits next to me about school and mentioned the fact that I was heavily involved with a club on campus. When asked what club, I replied, “Ottawa Students for Life. The pro-life club on campus.”

“Careful. Don’t say that too loud,” he warned with a smile. Why? Because the class we were in was Feminist Theories, a third year Women’s Studies course I’m taking as an elective.

This is the sort of environment a pro-life student faces on campus these days–the hush hush “don’t say that too loud” sort of world. No hush-hush, here, however, I make it my business to be fairly loud. I’m bringing others from the PWPL team too. Black Belt Brigitte, for example, for protection. You just never know what could happen. (That was a joke.)

Wow, the blogosphere and mainstream media is dialing up the hoopla about this Tim Tebow ad that as of yet, no one has seen. There are already spoofs of an ad that no one has seen. Talk about getting bang for your advertising buck.

Anyways, “women’s groups” say the unseen ad is divisive and Super Bowl Sunday is all about bringing people together. I hear they’ve lobbied the NFL to get the teams to agree to play touch football, so that no one gets hurt. And when the game is over, everyone will get a ParticipACTION ribbon and go home smiling. It’s gonna be magic.

Now these women’s groups–now they would certainly never, ever stoop to politicize a sporting event. Oh no. They certainly never would have started a rumour that Super Bowl Sunday is the day with the most domestic violence in a year.

Pro-choice feminists: Pro-choice until such time as someone actually dares to promote a choice they disagree with.

It gets pretty sad when you invite it there yourself, too.

Dating site eHarmony has settled a lawsuit in California by agreeing to end the separation of its homosexual and heterosexual matchmaking services.

eHarmony agreed to open a site for gay and lesbian customers after another lawsuit in 2008, but it did not cross-promote or even link between the two sites, and it kept subscriptions separate.

A gay man from New Jersey named Eric McKinley filed suit against eHarmony in 2008 for not offering matchmaking for gays and lesbians. eHarmony settled by agreeing to launch a service for gay and lesbian customers called Compatible Partners. eHarmony’s launch of Compatible Partners was called a “shotgun wedding” by the Los Angeles Times, though. There wasn’t even a link to Compatible Partners at eharmony.com.

Furthermore, Compatible Partners had a completely different subscription system. Bisexuals had to pay two subscription fees to have access to both sexes.

The newer lawsuit was settled in California yesterday. eHarmony will add its name to Compatible Partners, link it from the main eHarmony website alongside its Jewish, black, Christian and senior portals, and unify subscriptions. The company will also pay out $500,000 to around 150 Californians to settle. That’s in addition to the $1.5 million it has spent defending itself in court.

Honestly, I don’t understand this. If a commercial website does not offer services that suit you, even after you ask them to, you go find yourself a different and better site. You don’t get the state to force the rest of the world to accommodate your wishes. And besides, what should you care whether your particular service is merged with that of other people?

I don’t follow figure skating and the name “Johnny Weir” means nothing to me. But I like how he handles annoying critics. Go Johnny!

p.s. think we should send him a t-shirt?

______________________

Andrea’s favourite part of what this figure skater says:

There are humans dying everyday. There are thousands if not millions of homeless people in New York City. Look at what just happened in Haiti. I tend to focus my energy, if there is a cause, on humans. While that may be callous and bad of me, it’s my choice.”

He concludes by saying:

Every skater is wearing skates made out of cow,” Weir said. “Maybe I’m wearing a cute little fox while everyone else is wearing cow, but we’re all still wearing animals.”

A taxi company in Brandon, Manitoba, gives away free condoms to late-night customers Thursday through Sunday. It doesn’t happen very often, but I don’t know quite what to say except that I’m awfully glad I’m not longer dating. Is the girl supposed to be impressed that the guy picks up his condoms in the cab on the way home (wow, what presence of mind he’s displaying)? Or would she rather he shrugged and said: Don’t worry, babe, I’m already well-equipped in that department (wow, and a real gift for double entendres, too)?