An eloquent piece, with an important kicker about the lack of wisdom of our age:

Even to call “Making a Green Choice” an “article” is overly generous, since, despite the demise of print media, the word still carries some implications of quality. However, just as someone can be called an actor simply for appearing in a film, this is an article only in the sense that it has been published. It reads much more like an angry, lonely rant beneath a Facebook post on the joys of being a stay-at-home mother—the same sort of thing blogger-troll Amy Glass managed to exploit with her recent tirade “I Look Down On Young Women With Husbands and Kids.”

For this reason, the appearance of “Making a Green Choice” in a print magazine – especially in Mother Earth News, which has always been about tradition – seems an accident of our shifting public forums. Hailing from the blogosphere, such articles as this might also be seen as a reminder of how reckless and impulsive online commentary can become. Its ideas have, so to speak, no gestation period, and often reinforce the idea that social media is making us into sociopaths.

There are no graphic visuals at this link, but there is disturbing, graphic content about human trafficking. A movie called Eden is coming out this summer, “a sex slave’s story.” Bolded some interesting details, to me.

She was recruited into sex slavery in 1994 by the person she believed to be her boyfriend. While studying Law at a technical college in Dallas, Chong met a man claiming to be a soldier in a bar who she knew as Keith, only later discovering that was not his real name. She described him as chivalrous, adding: “He would say to me ‘you should smile more often you know’, he was very, very sleek. That’s what makes him poisonous.”

Estranged from her family, Chong was vulnerable and looking for her ‘Prince Charming’ and he manipulated this to recruit her, she says.

“It’s like a hunting game, they know how to hunt, they look for them, they watch, they observe. They’ll do a round of tests,: says Chong. “A man will go to the bar and he will say ‘who wants to get me a drink?’ and the first woman who says ‘I will’ without knowing him gives him the signal that she will do anything for him.”

After just two months of dating, he drove her to an abandoned house in Oklahoma telling her that he needed to help a homeless friend.

I’ve read before about girls who are distant from family, lonely, even those who are not, but are going through a rebellious time, being lured into prostitution/human trafficking.

I believe all of this is facilitated by a culture that places no limitations on sex other than it be consensual. I’ll leave that thought dangling, as I flesh out my reasons why. A post will be forthcoming. It has to do with the decline of the family, the higher proportion of girls raised without active dads, a cultural milieu that says sex in any dating relationship is not only normal but required, a culture that demeans sex through even government-funded exhibitions in our very own Museum of Science and Technology and then is horrified when there is a “rape culture” on campus and elsewhere.

My thoughts are not yet complete, I know, so more to come. But let me just add that in this environment, the fact that I am maligned for being prudish and traditional in face of such unspeakable horrors when sex is twisted into something it was never intended for, speaks volumes.

Apparently there is a museum of abortion and birth control in Sudtirol, Austria. This article walks you through that. Toward the end, the abortion provider, Christian Fiala, who founded the museum has this to say about people who disagree:

Sadly, you cannot talk to these people in an objective manner. They are, if you will, psychologically confined in a certain way. Normal discussion isn’t even possible. That is the true drama. Not the abortions but the fact that to this day, people like them are allowed to stand outside our clinic scaring away women who need help. I have received anonymous death threats too. But let’s not talk about people like that any more. It doesn’t further the cause. You wouldn’t blame illiterates for reading the wrong newspaper.

It’s interesting, because although it is likely patronizing, I feel the same way about him. Worldview, people, it is a very long process to change it.

Then there’s this gem:

Until about 1900, killing babies after birth was the predominant method of birth control. From then on, and for about 70 years, the illegal termination of the pregnancy between the fourth and fifth month became commonplace.”

In short, we used to kill babies after birth, but now, ladies and gentlemen, we do it before, and this is what makes us so civilized. A sarcastic well done to you Herr Fiala.

I can’t help it: All these women at the Oscars start to look exactly the same–interchangeable like the cut-out dolls my nieces have, whereby you can put different dresses on the same paper face. I’m not sure how to avoid this. A little less glamour? Or how about allowing these women to be…wait for it…themselves, not carbon copy looks with carbon copy views. We all know what gets you awarded an Oscar. Or perhaps, better put, we know what doesn’t.

I was at the Manning Networking Convention for the past few days. As such, I sat in on a session about how the Conservatives are polling. (Not good, is the short answer.)

Anyway, a moment of more than passing interest occurred when the pollster identified that abortion falls into the quadrant of issues that the Conservatives don’t care about and Canadians don’t care about. Ie. It’s not an issue the Government should be raising.

I was sitting next to a pro-life friend and she asked, “do you think that’s true?”

I do. And I think it’s important for pro-life Canadians to be aware of this. We need a major cultural shift before this is going to be a politically saleable issue.

That said, politics, I believe, or what might be termed “political activity” in a certain capacity, can also be a way of changing the culture. Politics, including the distasteful shenanigans that happen on the Hill, is part of our culture, I think.

Mark Warawa’s failed motion on sex selection abortion, for example, at least raised up the issue for Canadians. It needs to be raised up a couple hundred more times by people of all stripes, political and not, and then, slowly, slowly, politics will choose to deal with it.

Unfortunately, change is slow. Cultural change is slow and political change, I am starting to see, might be yet slower.

As Linda Gibbons, in and out of jail for the pro-life cause says, “The battle isn’t lonely, but it is long.”

She’s right. It’s not lonely. I look around me and see I am surrounded by some of the best, brightest, most convicted pro-life people there are.

But the battle is long, indeed. I need to remind myself of that. Long distance race, people, not a sprint. This is not a reason to be lackadaisical, but it is a reason to be strategic.

I am thinking this through as I type. A thought for the day. Now it’s off to hit a different hill, not Parliament Hill, but rather the Hill(s) of Gatineau. Hurray!

The Rescue Summit is THIS SATURDAY in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Wow, that came up fast. I’ll be talking about being pro-life in the public square. It’s free and it’s not too late to register.

Also, Ross Douthat is coming to Ottawa as part of the Manning Networking Convention. Cardus is bringing him in and Friday night promises to be fun and informative. That’s what Cardus is like. Fun and informative. It’s not free but it’s not too late to register.

The sad part is, the content has changed but women’s magazines today essentially do the exact same thing: How to tips on how to get and keep a man.

Study released today on international abortion norms. Canada is one of four countries in the world that have no restriction in law what-so-ever.

Ottawa, ON – A new study has found that the US and Canada are among the seven most liberal countries in the world offering little or no protection for unborn human life what-so-ever.

Angelina Baglini of the Charlotte Lozier Institute looked at International Gestational Limitations on elective abortion, and found that in the 199 countries, independent states, and semi-autonomous regions with populations exceeding 1 million, Canada and the US were among only seven that have no limits on elective abortion after 20 weeks.

The study found that 140 countries require reasons for aborting that range from restricting the procedure completely to allowing it as a means of saving the life of the mother only, to various reasons of physical and mental health.

Fifty-nine countries limit elective abortion up to a defined gestational point in pregnancy. Of these 59, only seven countries in the world pass the 20-week threshold for allowing elective abortion.  This includes the United States which generally permits abortion to viability in law.

But Canada is among the only four countries in the world that have no restriction in law what-so-ever.  The other countries are China, Vietnam and North Korea.

Baglini concluded that “The clear norm among countries that permit elective abortion is to limit abortion to before 20 weeks gestation, and the procedure is more commonly limited to 12 weeks (the first trimester).”

A retreat for those who are suffering after abortion:

Rachel’s Vineyard is a safe place to renew, rebuild and redeem hearts broken by abortion. Weekend retreats offer you a supportive, confidential and non-judgmental environment where women and men can express, release and reconcile painful post-abortive emotions to begin the process of restoration, renewal and healing.

Date April 11-13

Call Terry or Lynda at 613-806-5522 or email [email protected]