Voting has begun at the Canadian Blog Awards. ProWomanProLife is in the “political” category.

What a sad, sad way to go:

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina–A 38-year-old former Miss Argentina has died from complications after undergoing cosmetic surgery on her buttocks.

Solange Magnano, a mother of twins who won the crown in 1994, died of a pulmonary embolism Sunday after three days in critical condition following a gluteoplasty in Buenos Aires.

Gluteoplasty involves placing implants in the buttocks to make them appear rounder.

I wish women would stop going under the knife to “fix” minor imperfections. I wish women would try to improve their appearance by eating well, sleeping enough, and exercising. I wish women would just stop obsessing over their bodies so much because you know what? The good guys out there don’t care exactly how perfectly round your butt appears to be. They’re dating a person, not a body part. Sure, they prefer a girl who looks good over one who doesn’t appear to spend more than 42 seconds a week looking after herself. But come on. Is non-medically-necessary cosmetic surgery really worth it?

I am not a fan of David Cameron. I find him way too squishy for my taste. But he’s right on this one:

“I think marriage is a good institution. I don’t need an opinion poll to tell me whether it is or is isn’t. That’s just what I think.”

[…]

He told the Daily Mail: “Evidence shows marriage is a good institution which helps people stay together, and commit to each other.

“A society that values marriage is a good and strong society, that’s why we will recognise marriage in the tax system.”

No, that doesn’t mean everyone should get married. And yes, there are plenty of unmarried couples who are more committed to each other than many a married couple. But that’s a comment on people, not on institutions. Marriage is not the same as just living with someone (I know; I tried both). And it’s a good thing for a society when marriage is seen as an ideal to achieve through commitment and hard work, not just a boring piece of paper.

A longish post on how to deal with your in-laws.

Turns out those were the good old days.

A popular role-playing combat video game featuring graphic homosexual sex between a man and an elf has hit store shelves just in time for Christmas.

“Dragon Age: Origins,” released Nov. 3 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, depicts two men in various sex positions in a secret scene of homosexual seduction.

The game is by BioWare, makers of “Mass Effect,” “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” and “Baldur’s Gate.” It has a “Mature” rating.

Why, did they run out of “Depraved” ratings?

[h/t]

A British institute says trying to preserve the traditional family is a “trap”. How non-jolly.

Aunts, uncles, grandparents and even siblings will take on increasing childcare responsibilities in a form of “communal parenting” to cope with the effects of marital breakdown and growing pressures in the workplace, according to the Family and Parenting Institute.

Rising divorce rates, fewer marriages and the growth of civil partnerships mean that the traditional family model is no longer “the norm” and Government efforts to rescue it are futile, according to Dr Katherine Rake, the organisation’s new chief executive.

Dr Rake will use her first major speech in the post to warn against the “trap” of attempting to preserve traditional family structures through Government initiatives.

Way to go, Grandma!

BOSTON – A Boston woman has succeeded at one of the all-time great Thanksgiving Day juggling acts: She cooked the turkey while helping deliver her baby granddaughter.

Patricia McCalop was in the middle of preparing the meal when her daughter suddenly went into labor two weeks early.

McCalop called 911, and a dispatcher talked her through the delivery and helped her confirm that the baby girl was breathing.

Paramedics arrived shortly afterward and took Africa McCalop and her newborn to the hospital. They are both in good health.

Patricia McCalop said she kept running between the kitchen and her daughter in labor because she didn’t want the turkey to burn while helping her child deliver the baby.

“I’m like, ‘What are you doing with the turkey? We got the baby,'” Africa McCalop told the Boston Herald. “She didn’t know what to do. She’s like, ‘I got to go get the turkey baster.’ I’m like, ‘For what?'”

The infant weighed six pounds.

No word on the turkey’s weight, but I’ll bet it tasted great!

Look: I know there’s sex everywhere all the time no matter where you look. But still, there are times when I get a little shock from the – how to describe it – utter lack of any sense of occasion displayed by those who write about such things.

Example: This news story about Lindsay Lohan posing topless for a French magazine. Here’s what it says after describing how “In the shoot she can be seen simulating sex with both a man and woman.”

Meanwhile, Lindsay will be busy preparing Thanksgiving dinner with her family, at their home in Long Island, New York.

Lindsay’s mother Dina said: “Lindsay is making the garlic mashed potatoes. They are amazing!”

No, no, no. Either you write about the starlet’s bare-it-all antics, or you discuss how she celebrates Thanksgiving. You don’t mix the two – they really don’t go together very well.

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Andrea has a lot of thoughts on this one: One: Is this something her mother is proud of or trying to ignore? (“My daughter is in a nude photo shoot simulating sex with strangers… Wow! These mashed potatoes sure are great!”) Two: Only in America would a reporter try to merge Thanksgiving and sex. Three: Rome didn’t fall in a day, and America won’t fall because of Lindsay Lohan. But the words “civilizational decline” spring to mind. Four: The pilgrims sure as heck are turning in their graves. Finally, is there a funny comedy sketch in there somewhere? Lohan at a pilgrim’s thanksgiving table? Or is it just too sad?

Like I said, lots of thoughts in my head on this one.

A terrifying article about acid burning in Pakistan (and other countries in that area). Warning: It contains graphic pictures of women who were attacked in this most barbaric way.

I’m linking to it here because, as Nicholas Kristof wrote: “Acid attacks and wife burnings are common in parts of Asia because the victims are the most voiceless in these societies: they are poor and female. The first step is simply for the world to take note, to give voice to these women.”

Please, take note. At the very least, take note.

Hey, if you’re old and sick and hurting and tired of living, and would rather find a way to accelerate your departure from this planet, that is your business. So maybe you stop taking the countless pills various doctors prescribe and get a stiff drink or three instead. Maybe you take up heavy smoking again. Maybe you refuse treatment and only accept pain-killers (or pain-numbers). If the choice is between being dependent on machines or dying, many of us would choose to go. That’s a choice only you and the people who love you can make.

This is what I call your right to die by refusing treatment, getting disconnected from life support, or simply by living extremely dangerously. All adults have it, and provided your loved ones (and ideally your lawyer as well) are made aware of your preferences, you should be able to get your wish, even if you are not in possession of your faculties. I don’t believe this author has any reason to be worried about the current legal framework surrounding end-of-life issues. He currently has the right to choose not to be kept “alive well past what nature had intended”. And given how stretched medical resources are in this country, I’m willing to bet he won’t run into very strong protests on the part of his doctors should he find himself in such a situation.

Having the right to refuse treatment and die more or less your own way is not the same as instituting state-sanctioned euthanasia. It would help if people didn’t mix up the two so often.