Those wacky clerics!

A SENIOR Iranian cleric says women who wear revealing clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.

Iran is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, and the cleric’s unusual explanation for why the earth shakes follows a prediction by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that a quake is certain to hit Tehran and that many of its 12 million inhabitants should relocate.

“Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes,” Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi said.

Yes indeed. Consequently.

Doctors are working round the clock to sterilize those who disobeyed the one child policy:

In Puning county couples with illegal children and their relatives who apply for permits to build a house are rejected. Illegal children are refused residency registration, a penalty that denies them access to healthcare and education. Authorities have discovered, however, that those methods have less success than rounding up relatives.

I thought there had been a softening of the one child policy. Apparently not.

… is that somebody, somewhere, thought it was a good idea to sell padded bikini tops to 7-year-olds.

I really enjoyed this column from Leonard Stern in this morning’s Ottawa Citizen.

I always thought that the environment — in this case the development of sustainable communities that are not so car-dependent —  shouldn’t be a matter of right or left. I really get going when science gets tossed right or left. Granted, politically-motivated scientists are largely to blame for placing climate change on the political spectrum. However, in theory, the scientifically measurable effects of suburban sprawl  shouldn’t hinge on one’s political views. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that these issues are beyond debate. I just have an issue with those who hold that you can’t believe in climate change — for instance —  if you are conservative, you can’t doubt climate change if you are liberal. Wait a minute, one has nothing to do with the other except the color of the bandwagon.

It’s like abortion. Does it matter to the humanity of the fetus whether you are right or left? Does the fetus feel more or less pain if you are conservative or liberal? The fetus is alive or it isn’t. It feels pain or it doesn’t. Get your facts straight, then make a case.

Bam. The column is called “It’s been a tough week for pro-choicers.” Only gonna get harder. Think about it: Science just won’t conceal those pesky babies in the womb. Women writers fail to fall in line with feminist mantras. Laws being passed that recognise fetal pain.

Convincing people that a pregnancy does not involve two people when any two-year-old can see it does is tough work. It must be hard to be on the wrong side of history.

An article here about Rod Bruinooge’s new bill to ban coercing someone  to have an abortion.

So does this happen in Canada? Certainly not to the extent that women are being murdered, right, left and centre, no, as was the case for Roxanne after whom MP Rod Bruinooge is naming his bill.

I’m way more concerned about the subtle form of coercion or influence that happens in just your average abortion. Women are very susceptible to just even the smallest expression (or lack of expression) of their partners and family, I think.

And the burden of proof does not lie in proving that no one is coerced into keeping the baby, not in a culture where there are 100,000 plus abortions annually.

First I hear of this. Not sure what to think – how do you even begin to enforce it? But in principle, I agree that women should not be coerced into abortions.

Update: Perhaps the least surprising news story of the week…

The maternal health saga continues:

The number of women dying in childbirth worldwide has dropped dramatically, a British medical journal reports, adding that it was pressured to delay its findings until after U.N. meetings this week on public health funding.

Get your two minutes of hate here… My favourite part:

It’s sort of a misconception in some circles that ladies who choose pregnancy termination would be interested in adoption, that’s one thing people don’t understand.

Abortion is birth control. Adoption is giving up your child and not accepting your duties as a mother. Most women are not interested in that. It’s only in a religiously-altered mind that that’s a true option.

[h/t]

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Andrea adds: Wow. That’s all I have to say at the moment.