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.

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?

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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)?

I love it when science catches up with what most normal people already know.

Scottish scientists have finally figured out why female fertility drops off so rapidly with age: a woman’s “ovarian reserve,” or the potential number of eggs she is born with, declines by almost 90 per cent by age 30. The study from the University of St Andrews and Edinburgh University found that most women are born with 300,000 potential egg cells but by age of 30, only 12 per cent are left on average; by age of 40, the reserve is down to just three per cent.  Though women continue producing eggs throughout their 30s and 40s, the reservoir of potential eggs from which they are taken shrinks to almost nothing. And though the body chooses the best eggs from the reserve, the likelihood is that the quality of the eggs will suffer with age, increasing the difficulty of conception and the risk of an unhealthy baby. The lesson, says study co-author Dr Hamish Wallace, is that women shouldn’t wait too long to try to conceive: “Our research shows that they are generally over-estimating their fertility prospects.

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Andrea is from that department too: Well, not really. But I do have smart, university-educated friends who think that when Hollywood stars have children at 40 it means they can too. We apparently cannot highlight enough, then, that the fertile years are a time limited affair. Sad, really. We’re all so smart, and yet, so dumb.  (And in that category I definitely include myself.)

I like what James O’Keefe did in the past, especially that famous sting operation on ACORN. I’m not too sure what this is about, but I don’t like what it looks like one bit.

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UPDATE: Reader Maryann sends this, which suggests the story might be less embarrassing for O’Keefe than the first reports indicated. I certainly hope so.

Speaking about a woman who was acquitted of the attempted murder of her very ill 31-year-old daughter, despite admitting to helping her commit suicide:

Last year, two judges questioned whether it was in the public interest to prosecute her for attempted murder, given that she had pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting suicide. One suggested the case be dropped rather than “let this defendant get tangled up in a messy trial for the sake of some legal mumbo jumbo”.

At the risk of dating myself and alienating older (the 1970s, ew) and younger (techno 1990s? please) readers, I would like to say how pleased I am to hear news like this:

The 1980s are taking over the cinemas of North America and the UK. Upcoming remakes of ’80s franchises include The A-Team, The Karate Kid, Clash of the Titans, Nightmare on Elm Street and the ultimate Reagan/Thatcher-era movie, Red Dawn. It used to be that the ’80s was “the decade everyone was a bit ashamed of,” with its terrible hair and pop music dominated by synth and saxophone. But after the depressing experience of the ’00s and ’10s, people are starting to feel nostalgic for the greater certainty of the ’80s, not to mention songs like “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Besides, the executives who are running studios today grew up watching the “irony-free” movies of the ’80s, and now they’re trying to re-create their youth. Does this mean that there will be a remake of Mr. T’s Be Somebody Or Be Somebody’s Fool? One can only hope.

Though of course nobody can replace Patrick Swayze…