A montage of faces and voices who were on the Hill for the march today, including yours truly. I was slightly more more frank than I realized. When asked if I’m “disappointed in Stephen Harper” I reiterated how I have not been disappointed in him because of my exceptionally low expectations. Did that not once, but twice. Hey, at least no one can accuse me of being partisan.

Hats off to Brian Lilley for heading to the Hill to cover this and get the real, unedited voices of pro-lifers.

Véronique did a great job on CBC Radio in Ottawa today talking about how to debate the abortion debate. Click here to listen. (Segment is called Debating the Abortion Debate, May 10)

You may think I’m talking to others, but no, that’s my advice for myself to remain zen in face of horrible media coverage.

Today the Ottawa Citizen ran a pretty bad story, with a photo of a man wearing a hockey mask holding up a plastic doll–from Spain. I gather they had to use aggressive and unrepresentative photos from across the globe because they’ve never covered the Ottawa march before–no Canadian footage on file.

I also love how the media think they’ve hit on something new:

No longer are grey-haired grandparents wearing sandwich boards outside abortion clinics the only faces of the anti-abortion movement; youth are getting involved too, Golob said.

What is coming soon? I genuinely don’t know. But I’ll still post this YouTube clip that was sent my way.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agOgHmEygFI]

Knock me over with a feather. This is a good report from the Toronto Star about the youth element of the pro-life movement. If you can, send the Star a note thanking them. Their “contact us” page is here.

I have not done a post about Chen Guangcheng yet, and this is only for a lack of time, not a lack of support for his cause. I am trying to follow along, and will be using this web site to help with that.

I liked this column, especially this:

But if you can just manage to tone down your egos, shape up your minds, and think unfashionable thoughts, you just might be able to do something worthy with your lives. And even get a job. Good luck!

However, the advice contained therein is going against decades and decades of cumulative PR. For me, the BS PR started in high school. We were extra, extra special young women, forging new paths for an extraordinary, cancer-curing future. We were told this regularly. My alma mater still sends out fancy brochures to this effect, only it bothers me less ever since I gave them a gmail address I barely check. From time to time my sister will ask: Are you filling out said survey/answering said questionnaire/giving money to our dear alma mater? And my general response is “What survey/questionnaire/request for money?”

I’m generally a fan of increased knowledge, but in small instances like this, ignorance is truly bliss.

Here’s your “movie trailer” to feel enthused and get in on the action. Many thanks to André Schutten of ARPA (Association for Reformed Political Action) for creating a pro-life YouTube clip that actually feels somewhat fun!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0kdrTD6g6s]

More info on the day’s events, here.

I am not sure why this makes me cry,  but there you go. Something beautiful there. Perhaps in reading I’m keenly aware of my own shortcomings, my own very developed sense of entitlement. You may like to pull out a tissue before reading. My favourite part:

The eldest of four siblings, he has seen two brothers and a sister surpass him in size, and acquire cars and college educations. He, however, with an underdeveloped entitlement mentality, has been equable about life’s sometimes careless allocation of equity. Perhaps this is partly because, given the nature of Down syndrome, neither he nor his parents have any tormenting sense of what might have been. Down syndrome did not alter the trajectory of his life; Jon was Jon from conception on.

This year Jon will spend his birthday where every year he spends 81 spring, summer and autumn days and evenings, at Nationals Park, in his seat behind the home team’s dugout. The Phillies will be in town, and Jon will be wishing them ruination, just another man, beer in hand, among equals in the republic of baseball.

Is this how the story goes?

When supermodel Linda Evangelista told French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault in 2006 she was pregnant with his child, he asked her to get an abortion, her attorney charged Thursday on the first day of a child-support trial in Manhattan. Pinault, 49, who is currently married to actress Salma Hayek, denied that charge but testified he told Evangelista that “if she were to have a child (they) might not have a relationship.” With that a four-month relationship, in which he said the couple only actually saw each other seven days, came to an end.

Choices, choices. I’d say supermodel Linda Evangelista had a choice as to whether she’d sleep with someone she barely knew. So did Pinault. But once a baby came into the picture with the pregnancy, he did not have a choice to say she should kill it. Neither had a choice to terminate a life based on their own indiscretion. This is how these things play out for many folks, I’m well aware. And your friendly neighbourhood liberal would have you believe that control over one’s body starts after conception. Before that? No control whatsoever. Yes, I am now channeling my grandmother (who incidentally I’ve never heard say anything like this.)