I’ve never been big on quotas – I don’t actually care how many women run for office. But these people do. And they, well, blunder a bit, no?

Apparently “equal” now means 33%

For Immediate Release
June 18, 2009

Statement to the House of Commons on the Equal Voice Challenge

Mr. Speaker,

I rise in defence of a process of change and renewal that is as old as Parliament itself.

With the passage of time, this House has come increasingly to encompass the breadth of our country’s diversity-

-of language, gender, sexual orientation, race, creed, and culture.

But we must always desire to be more representative of the population.

And today, I stand before this House to act on part of that desire.

Today, on behalf of my party, I accept the Equal Voice Challenge.

The Liberal Party is committed to having more women in politics-

-in Parliament-

-and in government, after the next election.

Today, I pledge on behalf of my party, that in the next election, no fewer than one-third of our Liberal candidates will be women.

Thank you.

– 30 –

Contact:
Press Office
Office of the Leader of the Opposition
613-996-6740

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Rebecca adds: So essentially, the position of the Liberal Party is that it isn’t up to the electorate to decide whom they want to represent them, but rather that we have to narrow the options available to the unwashed masses in a manner that conforms to elite opinion about the optimal composition of the House. The ramifications of this are quite extraordinary, and wholly incompatible with meaningful democracy.

_____________________

Andrea adds: I personally am looking for more animal representation. Like those talking dogs from the movie Up. Loved them, and would see the movie again, just for this. That’s my concern and my weighty contribution to this discussion. (I do not care whether the dogs are male or female.)

Malcolm Muggeridge once said that had Hitler treated dogs the way he treated Jews, British people would have gone to war years earlier. I wonder what he’d say about this:

The residents of Guangzhou, one of China’s most affluent cities, are already used to sticking to the country’s strict one-child rule, but a new regulation is about to force many dog owners to make an impossible decision.

From next month, new regulations will come into action meaning households will be allowed only one dog, meaning anybody with two or more pooches will be allowed to keep only their favourite.

(buy a t-shirt)

This young girl is in tears over how attached she is to the zygote, but somehow manages to justify her decision to abort it extremely easily (“everyone is telling me that being a mom will suck at first but then it will be wonderful. What if it’s not? I want to do something I enjoy for a change, something for me!”). Attached to the zygote? But able to abort? Really? Maybe her story is a good example of why women experience poor mental health as the result of an abortion.

Once I came to the decision to terminate the pregnancy, so much of the guilt and sadness I’d been feeling melted away. …In some ways, I feel like I’ve given up. I didn’t want to go down without a fight, I wanted to be a tough mother who braved the world for her child.

Now I was raised by tough and courageous parents, who moved across the ocean to escape an immoral regime. Maybe that’s why I find I’m often short on the sympathy file. If you claim to want to do the right thing, then just do it. Don’t write long meandering tracts on how you wanted to but couldn’t possibly be brave. (The article also points out she was offered every help in the book.)

You know what I’m sorry about? (Because I’m not feeling sympathy for her right now, to be sure.) I’m sorry a person can be so spineless as to kill her child in favour of a Masters degree. And then claim “it was the right thing to do” to the nodding affirmation of New York Times types.

Unsurprisingly, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected an appeal against bubble zones around abortion clinics. Of course, freedom of choice in this country means you are not allowed to disagree with that choice (and for the record, I don’t believe anyone has the right to interfere with other people’s legal activities – it’s just that standing on a sidewalk with a sign does not constitute undue interference). So the Court probably felt comfortable not explaining its decision to dismiss the case. The Court has every right to dismiss without comment. But it doesn’t look very smart doing so.

This is hilarious:

With steep state budget cuts under debate in Sacramento, Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to push for changes to CalWorks and other government aid programs they said would save nearly $270 million.

Included in their suggestions is a novel proposal: Put unemployed parents to work caring for their own children.

That’s so obvious! If we pay parents to look after their children, we turn them into paid professionals and suddenly all is well. Take that, Charles Pascal!

Your Mommy-War story for today:

Alberta’s Liberal leader is demanding an apology from Finance Minister Iris Evans, who suggested that in order to raise children “properly” one parent should stay at home while the other goes to work.

“If she really said these things, she must apologize. If she doesn’t apologize, the premier must fire her,” David Swann said in a statement Wednesday. “These are truly outrageous claims. I have never been as stunned by the sheer arrogance and ignorance of the Tories as I am today.

“In a sense, Iris Evans did us all a favour by revealing her contempt for the sacrifices made by hard-working Alberta families.”

[h/t Five Feet of Fury]

…but don’t take it from me. Take it from a woman who has had two abortions:

So much of life is a gamble, and I think I might have had as good a chance of staying together with the first guy as I did with my ex-husband. And I am not sure that my life would have turned out worse if I had had kids early. I am not sure it would have turned out better. I’m not even sure it would have been that different.

You never know, not really. There is little certainty. But there are some certain truths: It’s very hard to have an abortion. And, there is not a perfect time to have kids.

Life is a gamble, and yet we all seem to want to sign on the dotted line: Successful career by age XX, husband by age YY, 2.5 kids precisely when I am ready. I don’t think it works this way.

______________________

Brigitte couldn’t agree more: I can’t even manage to get rice pudding right – it’s either too thick or not enough, I never get it just so. And it only involves a handful of ingredients on a stove over which I exercise full control. Imagine trying to micromanage Life…

Seriously:

June 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A UK couple recently lost their last IVF embryo when it was mistakenly implanted in another woman, who aborted the baby when she discovered it was not hers.

If we agree that abortion is a personal decision for the woman who’s pregnant with the unborn child, then this embryo’s biological mother had no way of preventing her baby from being terminated. I am very sorry for her (and for her husband).

Here is a story about New York City moms suing the makers of a baby sex test that apparently gave them wrong results despite being advertised as “infallibly accurate”. I’m reading it, rolling my eyes all the way to my shoulder blades, thinking about how crazy this world is that people would sue because of something like that. Aren’t there more important things, like your baby being healthy, to worry about?

And then, lo! I had a look at the comments. Full of good old common sense they were. What a relief! I especially like this one:

Corinne
The fact that they paid $275 for these tests actually says a lot about these ladies!!!

Go read them if you’re in need of a smile.