This article in the New York Times never mentions the A word. But I think it hits on a major problem in social science circles, and a reason why research is published supporting a pro-abortion status quo. Perhaps even why the American Psychological Association has such a hard time acknowledging studies with “pro-life” outcomes:

The fields of psychology, sociology and anthropology have long attracted liberals, but they became more exclusive after the 1960s, according to Dr. Haidt. “The fight for civil rights and against racism became the sacred cause unifying the left throughout American society, and within the academy,” he said, arguing that this shared morality both “binds and blinds.”

A non-liberal student is quoted anonymously as saying:

I consider myself very middle-of-the-road politically: a social liberal but fiscal conservative. Nonetheless, I avoid the topic of politics around work,” one student wrote. “Given what I’ve read of the literature, I am certain any research I conducted in political psychology would provide contrary findings and, therefore, go unpublished. Although I think I could make a substantial contribution to the knowledge base, and would be excited to do so, I will not.”

It takes a brave soul to buck academic peer pressure.

I do love Ben Stein. For commentaries like this.

I keep reading in the New York Times that Mayor Bloomberg, a billionaire health nut, is on a campaign against having too much salt in foods in New York City restaurants. His belief is that New Yorkers and visitors shorten their life spans by eating too much salt and therefore raising their blood pressure in a dangerous way. …

But, wait a moment. I also read in the New York Times that New York City is one of the abortion capitals of the nation, with a much higher rate of abortion than most other parts of the nation. And Mayor Bloomberg is a great fan of “…a woman’s right to choose…” to abort her baby.

As I calculate it in a rough way, New York City has about 8 million persons living there, or about (very roughly) 3 per cent of the nation’s population. And New York has a much higher abortion rate than the rest of the nation. So it is possible that New Yorkers have about 50,000 abortions per year, or maybe a lot more.

That is 50,000 killings of totally innocent children every year. Does Mayor Bloomberg think that his anti-salt campaign means much compared with that number? If he wants to save lives, why doesn’t he throw his tiny weight and his huge purse behind right to life? That’s a truly life-saving act.

Some people like to get behind the easy causes.

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.

This is a family-friendly site, otherwise I’m sure the title language should be a lot stronger.

A pharmacy mistakenly gives a pregnant woman the abortion pill instead of her antibiotic.

They’ve issued an apology for the error. I’m sure that’s comforting to the mom.

I know, I know, I’m a crazy pro-lifer. But I’ve always thought that pharmacies should not deliberately keep pills that kill on hand. There used to be something…what was it called again? The Hippocratic Oath.

I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.

______________________

Jennifer notices: A pharmacy employee posted in the comments to this article, “That leaves us a skeleton crew of 1-4 people at any one time. These few people have to accept the scripts, fill them, handle insurance problems, call/fax doctors, run a register at the counter, a register at the drive-thru, and much more… ALL AT THE SAME TIME. It is a horrible system and errors are constantly happening…they are just usually caught before the medicine is handed to the patient” I would imagine that the one, most important thing to get right, as a pharmacy employee would be to give the patient the RIGHT prescription. But even in the doctor’s office, I’m often handled with latex gloves (which I’m allergic to, as it states in my chart) and given prescriptions that shouldn’t mix with my thyroid medication.

…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.

Thanks to my friend Mr. T (he knows who he is) for drawing my attention to this funny but slightly off-colour Super Bowl ad. Guys, whatever you do, don’t do that. You’re welcome!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8VBQioFH44&feature=player_embedded]

_____________________

Andrea adds: Funny. And who says men and women are the same? I’m not clear what the ad is for, though. “We’ll write your Valentine’s messages for you?” That strikes me as (another) way to lose points with your wife/girlfriend. (“You couldn’t think of anything nice to say all on your own?”)

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.

…I dedicate this post to Bell Canada. Watching this is better than therapy. Enjoy.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxXlDyTD7wo&feature=player_embedded”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxXlDyTD7wo&feature=player_embedded]

_____________________

Update: Had to watch again. Why? Because today I got mail from Bell Canada. They’d like it very much if I’d return to be their customer again. As I told them on the phone when they called me about this same matter, I already am a customer. Then I asked them not to contact me again. Guess they didn’t jot down those parts–either about me being a customer or not contacting me again. Therapy. This clip is therapy.

Oh sorry. Did I just give away the punchline?

You may have read the story of the 100 healthy sled dogs that were destroyed in British Columbia for business reasons. People are shocked, of course. Why, killing healthy dogs just like that, imagine!

So of course along came a scholar with the idea of conferring some kind of status on our pets, so as to prevent humans from treating them like vulgar property and disposing of them pretty much at will.

I think it’s a brilliant idea, except I’d start with making sure all human beings are covered before moving on to pets.