An important update: I mentioned earlier I wouldn’t do the ice bucket challenge because I believed the ALS society used unethical methods of research, creating embryos for science so they can be later destroyed. I was wrong, which is good news. A friend who is similarly concerned and has ALS in the family–so in other words, really wanting to support good research–asked whether ALS Canada and ALS USA work together. He received this reply:

As you will likely see if you go back in our grants, we did have a brief partnership with ALSA in the late 2000’s where we jointly funded some Canadian scientists. It lasted a couple of years only and no human embryonic stem cell work was funded. We currently have no ties with ALSA and share no revenue or programs. Thanks for reaching out to us about this. David Taylor, PhD,Director of Research, ALS Society of Canada (bold is mine)

So. A good news story, worthy of correction. I now believe if Canadians want to dump a bucket of ice water on their head, they should go ahead and do so.

What Margaret Wente is proposing for old age, I’m proposing for right now:

The truth is that being the oldest person in the room isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be. And as for that grey-suited power woman, I don’t envy her for a minute. Instead, I feel an overwhelming surge of relief that I don’t have to live that life any more. I don’t have to get up at 5, hit the office at 8, work 12 hours a day, wear pantyhose and take my two weeks off a year with a cellphone glued to my hip. I don’t have to worry about my next promotion, where my career is going, how many people are smarter and more talented than I am or what I’ll do if my boss turns out to be an evil, soul-sucking maniac. That’s easy. I’ll quit.

So what about a more whimsical approach to life? Way too many women I know live harried, tired lives, with cell phones attached to one hip, a baby on the other, enjoying neither. This is, by the way, the culture that tells you that the height of all success lies in wearing a power suit, and going to “the office.” It is very, very hard to shake that. I couldn’t when I started out, but I could now, and I’m just shy of the power suit age that Wente describes as “young.” (I don’t think it is, and clearly I have the mentality of someone nearing retirement, by her description.)

We need to be more free in our thoughts. And in my opinion, the very least free people are those telling you they need the choice of abortion. They don’t have the imagination to see that life could be livable in a different way, more often than not. (Remember, the dire circumstances we’re told about so often are a slim, slim minority.) Not that I blame them. I freely admit I might not have, prior to my current “old age.”

So you have women who go and get abortions because the very real pressure they feel lies around living differently–not that they couldn’t make it work. And indeed, not that they wouldn’t even be happier if they tried.

What if we just held men accountable for their own behaviour? Matt Walsh asks the questions. Well, yes. A fine idea. His points are good ones:

1. The internet is not an alternate dimension where the laws of morality, ethics, and basic human decency are magically suspended.

2. It isn’t cool for men to be sexually desperate.

3. I’m not one to bust out the “victim blaming” card, but this appears to be an appropriate time to play it.

We need men to talk to men about how looking at pictures of naked women on the internet is lame behaviour. Particularly, though certainly not exclusively, when the pictures are stolen.

A few people have emailed or asked whether I would do it. No, I wouldn’t, because I never want to encourage the use of embryos for scientific research. (NB: Stem cells need not be embryonic. There is much research that can be done without using embryos, and to date, it’s been more effective, anyway.)

Then I saw this about Matt Damon who disagrees with the challenge for different, but also valid, reasons.

He was creative in his rejection of the challenge, as you can watch below.

It got me thinking. How could pro-lifers be creative in rejecting the challenge? What I like about Matt Damon’s response is he drew positive attention to his cause. A little levity can go a long way. So pro-lifers, what could we do?

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlGhuud-s4w]

Human trafficking, prostitution, pornography, sex slavery: All of the above are linked and happen under our noses right here in Canada. If this is something that concerns you, consider joining in on this event. The info below is from Ashley Elliot, walk coordinator:  

The term “human trafficking” often conjures images of brothels in South East Asia or forced labour in sweatshops throughout the developing world, but unbeknownst to many in our own communities, it is happening in Canada as well.

Join us September 27th at the inaugural [free-them] Freedom Walk to be a part of the solution to end slavery in Canada! Hear from some of Canada’s greatest voices on the issue of human trafficking from our government, law enforcement, and survivors of human trafficking. Then head into the streets of Ottawa to walk for freedom.

WHEN: Saturday, September 27th

Breakfast & Honourary Ceremony: 9:00am at the Ottawa Convention Centre, 55 Colonel By Dr.

Walk: 11:30am route: Elgin – Catherine – Bank – Parliament Hill

Speakers: Ottawa Deputy Mayor Steve Desroches; Minster of Public Safety Steven Blaney; Ottawa Police Detective Carolyn Botting; and survivor of human trafficking Simone Bell. The morning will be emceed by Ken Evraire.

Register individually or as a team: www.freethemwalkottawa.ca $15 includes complimentary breakfast, guest speakers, slave-free marketplace and a kid-zone prepared with fun activities for children.  Join the purple wave, [free-them] t-shirts available for $15 and will be free to those who raise $100 or more.

Join the freedom movement and walk with us Saturday, September 27th!!

I appreciate the sentiments expressed here. Some harsh language, but hey, it’s called for in instances:

However, allowing women who constantly commodify their bodies for the highest bidding award show or best paying record label to proclaim themselves as “feminists” without any outrage means we’re okay with them prostituting all of our bodies. Because this isn’t just damaging to them. They are creating a culture that sees all of us as parts and pieces to be acquired, sold, and traded at leisure.

This is precisely what has happened, past tense, in my opinion. Now we are left to undo the damage. Yet women cannot expect men to treat us respectfully when we don’t treat ourselves respectfully, as human beings, a trinity of mind, body and soul.

As an example of all of us being prostituted, let me give you this example.

A bunch of us girls go to help a friend move. I put on my moving clothes (FYI: not sexy) and show up in the summer heat. Our job is window cleaning–inside, and there’s no AC, since the windows are all open at this point for cleaning. It’s kind of hard work. Again, we are all in our moving clothes in an apartment in upheaval. I’m painting a picture so you can understand how not sexy this event was. We stop for a break. Popsicles! Hurray. Who doesn’t love popsicles, a childhood treat. We also need to a take a break because one of the windows jammed and could not be budged. We call the property manager for help, and he arrives to try and fix said window. He ends up joining us for popsicle treats.

Here’s where the pornification of culture happens. One of my friends is eating her popsicle, like every normal person does. He, the landlord, becomes somewhat fixated on watching her and though I find it weird, and notice it, I can’t figure out why. Finally he says, come on, can you just stop that! As if there is something criminal about eating a popsicle. And I realize what is happening. He is watching too much porn, and his mind has taken her eating a popsicle–an innocent, childlike activity–to a dirty place. If it can happen with my friend, it can happen with your daughter. We can debate causation here, but women and men: those who prostitute their own bodies for the making of porn, those who watch it, and a steady diet of advertising and movies that promotes women as sex objects are all to blame.

If some women claim objectification as empowerment, we are contributing to the problem, not solving it. This is not a post, btw, about victim blaming. Neither is it a post about “slut-shaming,” a term I see being used to ensure no one ever speaks responsibly about this sort of topic. It is a post about examining what constitutes empowerment, as women and men who must live together in this world.

Matters of denomination are inside baseball, as they say, so if you are not Christian at all, then you can just skip to the next post. But for those of us who are Christian, I think Mark Pickup is asking the right question:

Our once great western Christian civilization is dying. If this matters to followers of Jesus Christ, then we must set aside our denominational differences and work together to strengthen the things that remain and reclaim what has been lost. Evangelicals and Catholics must stand together to re-establish that former Christian culture and moral consensus. We have the numbers and the organization but the question is this: Do we have the will to win this present spiritual battle for Jesus Christ against secularism? Will we prayerfully and cooperatively work toward a new Christian spiritual revival ― or will we choose to hunker down in our churches and denominationalisms and watch everything sink into the spiritual and moral abyss of a New Dark Age?” – Mark Davis Pickup

I stumbled across this because he did a post about including people with Down’s. Which came from this post about a new clothing line for people with Down’s. Cool.

It was August 21, 1968 that Prague Spring was overrun by the Soviets. Some pictures here, to remember. My favourite shot is below, because it shows the military might juxtaposed against a normal guy, leaving work. What would you do?

…on conservative, Catholic, Canada.com? What? A great article.

A growing number of young, educated professional women are turning to fertility awareness, a form of natural family planning that sounds like your grandmother’s rhythm method but is way more accurate.

This makes me mad. I don’t eat at Burger King–I guess that makes a boycott easy. But it is lazy, irresponsible, disrespectful, uncreative and insulting to make this ad. It remains a man’s boy’s world with respect to respect for women. I’m glad the model spoke out.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7pnGJHGn-M]