Google made a very cool interactive Doodle to celebrate Jules Verne’s birthday yesterday, you could move around in your own personal Google-shaped submarine. As a canonical science fiction author, Verne explored the highest reaches and deepest depths of the imagined world.

This got me to thinking about the science fiction genre, and what it has explored in terms of fertility. It called to mind novels that focus on sexuality and fertility like Anthony Burgess’ The Wanting Seed, Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, and P.D. James’ The Children of Men, and similarities cropped up for me again and again in every such novel. They are all dystopian, failing future societies under strict control and usually lacking in food and shelter for the majority of its citizens. Why? Is it that when we think of fertility and man-made attempts to control or shape it, in our most celebrated and most cautionary imaginations, we foresee a bleak future?

Here’s a pro-woman solution if ever there was one,

For years, diplomats, aid workers, academics and government officials here have been vexed almost to the point of paralysis about how to attack this country’s staggering problem of sexual violence, in which hundreds of thousands of women have been raped, many quite sadistically, by the various armed groups who haunt the hills of eastern Congo.

Sending in more troops has compounded the problem. United Nations peacekeepers have failed to stop it. Would reforming the Congolese military work? Building up the Congolese state? Pushing harder to regulate so-called conflict minerals to starve the rebels of an income?

For Ms. Ensler, the feminist playwright who wrote “The Vagina Monologues” and who has worked closely with Congolese women, the answer was simple.

“You build an army of women,” she said. “And when you have enough women in power, they take over the government and they make different decisions. You’ll see. They’ll say ‘Uh-uh, we’re not taking this any longer,’ and they’ll put an end to this rape problem fast.”

Over the weekend, Ms. Ensler took the first step toward building this army: the opening of a base here in Bukavu called City of Joy.

…where’d all the money go?

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Chevron Corp. said Tuesday that it has hit oil in two wells in the Atlantic Ocean about 40 miles off the coast of the Republic of Congo.

The wells, in 2,600 feet of water, were drilled to about 6,000 feet, and each was tested and oil flowed, the company said in a statement.

“These discoveries further demonstrate the potential of West Africa where Chevron has made significant investments to develop new energy resources,” company Vice Chairman George Kirkland said.

The wells are in the Moho-Bilondo permit area. A Chevron subsidiary holds a 31.5 percent stake in the permit area and is in a partnership with Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo and Total E&P Congo.

This should be good news, and for countries like the US and Canada, finding oil is hitting the jackpot, but the DRC suffers from previously having mortgaged off the majority of its oil profits to the French company Elf Aquitaine.

In the early 1980s Congo received over a billion dollars a year in oil revenue. And yet there was no corresponding economic development during the same period.

The oil earnings were used to fund a huge expansion in imports to meet the ever-increasing demand for wheat and cheap rice, maize and frozen meat.

Back to basics

The civil service swelled beyond all recognition, increasing from 3,300 employees in 1960 to 80,000 employees in the 1990s. The payment of salaries took up a significant proportion of the budget, while the expenditure on rural development dropped.

The rural population resorted to hunting wild animals and subsistence production of manioc, while the percent age of land under cultivation fell to only 2%.

[…]

While the politicians got rich, the budget suffered from deficits, and Elf was approached to lend money to sort out the mess. Naturally, the company obliged, but at high rates of interest that only added to Congo’s problems in the long term. The debts were (and still are) repaid at source, in the oil that Elf was extracting, which was valued at a fraction of its real worth.

The oil-backed loans caught Congo in a trap of inescapable poverty. The more the politicians borrowed, the more oil was taken by the multinationals at source in exchange for debt repayment.

In a country desperate for infrastructure and stricken by sexual violence and poverty, being stuck in this crediting limbo is something of a life sentence for the Congolese women. When we look for solutions in the region, like in a Jane Austen novel, economics can never be left out of the conversation.

Carlton Lifeline’s struggle continues,

…effectively banning these groups is stifling political debate in a way that would ultimately be defeated in court, legal experts say.”I think a freedom-of-expression issue would be raised,” said Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

“In my view, probably denying the right to a pro-life group to express themselves would not be acceptable.”

The Carleton anti-abortion club was told their constitution conflicts with the association’s discrimination on campus policy. That policy reads: “any campaign, distribution, solicitation, lobbying effort, display, event etc. that seeks to limit or remove a woman’s right to choose her options in the case of pregnancy will not be supported.”

The group’s lawyer, Albertos Polizogopoulos, said that policy contradicts the association’s own governing bylaws.

Those bylaws outline one of the association’s aims as “maintaining an academic and social environment free from prejudice, exploitation, abuse or violence on the basis of, but not limited to, sex, race, language, religion, age, national or social status, political affiliation or belief, sexual orientation or marital status.”

“CUSA labels themselves as a pro-choice organization,” Polizogopoulos said. “They’re discriminating against pro-life clubs based on those pro-life clubs political beliefs.”

He said his clients plan on fighting their trespassing charges when they go to court.

Provincial hearings in Montreal on assisted suicide seem to be getting the yellow light from the regions’ most vulnerable groups.

The Association quebecoise de gerontologie, which includes more than 300 health professionals, called instead for the expansion of palliative care services to provide comfort to the terminally ill.

And the Association de spina-bifida et d’hydrocephalie du Quebec argued that a debate on euthanasia is premature, given that health services for the disabled are lacking everywhere.

Catherine Geoffroy, president of the association of gerontologists, told the National Assembly committee that assisted suicide and euthanasia are often presented as ways to die with dignity -a dig at the committee, which uses the motto.

“In a society where ageism is rampant, where the elderly are often held responsible for the difficulties in access to health care … how can we believe that consenting to euthanasia would be free of all societal pressures?” Geoffroy asked.

She noted that only 10 per cent of Quebecers have access to palliative care at the end of their lives, and that many elderly die in nursing homes where there is little palliative care.

“We believe that adequate palliative care can decrease the factors that lead a small proportion of people to demand an end to their lives,” she said.

“Palliative sedation, carried out in a strict medical manner, can respond to the concerns about dying in uncontrollable pain.”

Marc Picard, president of the association that represents 9,000 Quebecers living with spina bifida and congenital hydrocephalus, said his group is taking a neutral position on euthanasia and assisted suicide.

He argued the government should “fulfil its obligations to provide basic psychological and health services to the population before talking about the possibility of legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide.”

While it would’ve been nice to have had these kinds of considerations before legalizing (or just not ruling on) abortion as well, I’m happy these groups are having their voices heard in the public sphere. For them, it’s not up for discussion yet, they see a serious lack in services and want these wrongs to be righted before a debate can even begin on euthanasia.

We’re all aware of some of the awesome powers of baking soda combined with vinegar. It bubbles, it unclogs sinks, and years ago when I became pregnant I replaced all my highly toxic pre-made household cleaners with home-made baking soda scrub and vinegar spray. I felt much safer knowing myself and my new infant weren’t ingesting dangerous chemicals off the kitchen table or (in baby’s case) off the floors. But nothing had not quite prepared me for the No ‘Poo revolution.

What is No Poo?

For folks who aren’t familiar with the idea of No ‘Poo, it’s a haircare regimen that involves washing and conditioning your hair without any harsh chemicals. The cheapest, easiest way to do this is with our old friends baking soda and vinegar.

Why do I love No ‘Poo? Well, aside from the obvious fun of saying it, there are 3 reasons.

1. IT’S CHEAP! A box of baking soda costs me less than a dollar, if I buy in bulk it costs even less. Apple Cider Vinegar is around 2 dollars for a small bottle, again bulk is the better bargain. These last me about a month for general household cleaning AND my family’s locks. I even use the baking soda as face wash and the vinegar as toner (a little goes a long way!). For parents, having items that can multipurpose is a must, and the more affordable it is to have and raise children the better.
2. IT’S SAFE! Baking soda and vinegar have been around for hundreds of years. They’ve been tried and tested far longer than any beauty product on the market today. Not only are they better for Mother Nature, but they lack irritating chemicals, like sodium lauryl sulfate. Last February CBC ran a documentary entitled The Disappearing Male that claimed our use of synthetics was effecting the male reproductive system and “may be starting to damage the most basic building blocks of human development”. And last but not least…
3. LESS MONEY FOR BIG PHARMA. Oh yes, Johnson & Johnson make a lot of money on baby shampoo, and they make even more money with their reproductive control products (offered at any Planned Parenthood). For every $10 face wash, shampoo or conditioner I don’t purchase, it’s less money in their pot. And thankfully, with the dream team of baking soda and vinegar, this doesn’t mean I have to live in smelly protest. No ‘Poo for Life anyone?

Yes, more of this please.

PICTURES OF KATLYN GUNN’S little girl line the walls, cover the fridge and top the tables. Her baby’s name — Kylie — loops across her inner wrist, a tattooed reminder when the child isn’t in her arms.

“She’s my everything,” the 18-year-old Dartmouth mother says. “If I didn’t have her, I don’t know where I’d be.”

Perhaps the same could be said of where she actually is — a unique apartment complex, once a 1950s parochial school, tucked away behind a Dartmouth church.

These days, it’s a sanctuary of sorts for young single mothers like Katlyn. And the staff of volunteers guides the girls to far greater life lessons. Like how to bond with their babies, how to balance their chequebooks, how to rise above the people or places or behaviours that have been keeping them down.

The non-profit Supportive Housing for Young Mothers (SHYM) opened this 14-unit dwelling in October 2007, after extensive renovations funded by the federal government.

The organization bought the building — owned by Halifax Regional Municipality and used as a storage facility — for $1.

Single mothers aged 16 to 24, mostly teenagers, live in most of the units, although two units are set aside for staff, one of whom is a permanent resident. The girls stay for up to two years, occasionally longer. Most have no place else to go.

Katlyn used to live in group homes.

Former resident Amanda Young used to be homeless, going from friend’s house to friend’s house — and spending a month at a Halifax shelter with her now 3½-year-old son Jordan — until she came here.

“For one reason or another, they’re not able to live with their families,” says SHYM executive director Wendy Fraser. “Those reasons can be anything from financial, to capacity of the family, to mental health or drug and alcohol issues.

“There’s not really any one scenario that would fit for any of them. The common denominator is that they were young and didn’t have family that was able to provide the support they needed.”

…but death and taxes. That’s right, it’s tax time again. It’s possibly my least favorite time of year, as I have to file as an ex-patriot not one but TWO tax returns to various scary acronyms (IRS, CRA). Not to pat my own back, but I’ve become something of a North American tax wizard (no, I am not taking requests to file other people’s taxes). But while I don’t fear my own audit, I do hope the accountants have their red pens primed for looking at the tax payouts on a federal level.

Remember that revolutionary slogan, “No taxation without representation!” Well, for many people, that tyranny is just what happens with each and every paycheque. Organizations, like Planned Parenthood, have received billions of tax payer dollars over the past 20 years.

As my pro-choice friend once told me, “It’s okay if you’re pro-life, so long as you don’t object to anyone else having an abortion.” Even with this flawed logic it’s clear, even to pro-choice individuals, that the large population who object in the US and in Canada shouldn’t be paying for the procedure.

From Minnesota,

The people of Minnesota have never voted to pay for abortions with state money, and neither has the state Legislature. Taxpayer funding of abortion was imposed upon us by a wrongly decided court case known as Doe vs. Gomez in the mid-1990s.

Now it is time for the Legislature to represent the will of the people by passing a ban on taxpayer-funded abortions, and for Gov. Mark Dayton to allow the ban to become law. We know that Gov. Dayton supports abortion; he always has. But many who consider themselves “pro-choice” acknowledge that using tax dollars to pay for elective abortions goes too far.

Funding abortion seems especially unwise at a time when the state faces a massive $6.5 billion deficit. Paying abortionists to kill unborn Minnesotans is an expense that we simply cannot afford, and that unborn babies can live without.

According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, taxpayers bought 50,869 abortions at a cost of $15.6 million between July of 1994 and December of 2008.

[…]

I know the argument will be made by the other side that poor women ought to have the same access to abortion as rich women. But if we really want what’s best for disadvantaged mothers and their babies, we will help them, not offer them abortions.

______________________

Brigitte wonders: Am I the only one who noticed the slogan buried in this story? “Abortion: An expense unborn babies can live without.”

In a follow-up to Saturday’s story, women in the UK rallied yesterday in response to undercover police officers using sex to “infiltrate” groups.

DOZENS OF women demonstrated outside Scotland Yard, London, yesterday over the conduct of police officers who had sexual relationships with women they met while working undercover among environmental and left-wing protest groups.

One protester, Belfast student Maeve McKeown, said: “In the United States, that would be considered as rape, because there was no informed consent.”

The conduct of these policemen is a major headache for the British force, following the disclosure in a recent trial that policeman Mark Kennedy had sexual relationships with a number of women during the seven years he lived undercover among environmental activists. Two other officers have been outed since.

[…]

Demanding the identification of all the officers involved, Leila Deen, another of the demonstrators, asked a young uniformed Metropolitan Police officer standing guard outside New Scotland Yard: “Did you know your agents were using sex with women like us to get information? It is a clear abuse of public office.”

Acting Metropolitan Police commissioner Tim Godwin and Cmdr Bob Broadhurst are expected to face a difficult time today when they appear before the home affairs select committee in the House of Commons to explain why the Met gave false information about the use of undercover officers during the G20 protests in London in 2009.

The protester who commented on “informed consent” is incorrect however, as informed consent refers to a minimum intellectual capacity and/or emotional maturity (this usually refers to victims who are children, developmentally disabled, etc.). Fully capable adults who have been lied to by their sexual partners on the other hand are unfortunately par for the course. Aside from the obvious ethical violations the protesters address, I’m surprised that the issue of these officers being paid during these events hasn’t come up. Ahem, paid to have sex, and on the state’s dime?

Yesterday in my gym’s female locker room, I noticed a blue Plan B poster depicting a sperm entering an egg hanging where there are usually posters promoting Breast Cancer awareness or ALS awareness. I looked around and saw 4 others. Obviously, I lodged a complaint (I’m very popular now, I’m sure).

Since the posters are new, I wondered if Plan B was planning a new ad campaign with their shiny new posters. The website certainly looks updated, and once you get past the options to download their new “sperm font” and sperm screensaver, you’ll find claims like this one:

IS PLAN B AN ABORTION PILL?

Absolutely not. It may be comforting to know that plan B does not work if you are already pregnant (a fertilized egg has attached to the wall of the uterus). So if you take plan B, you will not be terminating a pregnancy. However, if you already have a confirmed pregnancy, you should not use plan B because it will not be effective.

So why does Plan B want to provide this kind of “comfort”? Well, because as Jeanne Monahan, director of the Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity, so eloquently said, “The difference between preventing life and destroying life is hugely significant to many women. Women deserve to know the difference.”

According to Plan B’s claims, pregnancy only occurs once a fertilized egg has attached to the uterine wall. This generally occurs 7 days after conception. That’s right, 7 days, a week, after fertilization. Was a women not pregnant for that week? Not according to the Princeton WordNet,

Noun

S: (n) pregnancy, gestation, maternity (the state of being pregnant; the period from conception to birth when a woman carries a developing fetus in her uterus)

Other dictionaries’ definition of pregnancy vary from edition to edition, sometimes contradicting themselves in the same edition. But whatever the printed page says, women DO deserve to know the difference and determine that definition for themselves, rather than have a pharmaceutical company define it for them. Plan B, as they stated on their site, prevents a fertilized egg, already starting to grow, from staying in the uterus. For many people, that is terminating a pregnancy.

_____________________

Andrea asks: I’m wondering a) How you phrased your complaint? and b) How the gym responded?

_____________________

Jennifer replies: As the gym I am a member of happens to be my employer, I felt comfortable leaving my co-worker, the marketing supervisor, a voicemail (since she was unavailable on the Sunday). I stated that 1) The posters were present where employees under the age of consent have access (under the age of 16) and 2) I have ethical issues working in an environment that advertises PlanB, which I consider to be an abortifacient. I asked her to get back to me and said I could write a formal complaint if need be. We’ll see what happens!