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Empty suitcase found shady…

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…er, I mean, “shady suitcase found empty.”

A suitcase that prompted a bomb scare Monday afternoon outside a downtown Ottawa abortion clinic turned out to be empty…

the large black suitcase leaning against a post…was empty and had been left out for disposal.

You know how it is. The Canadian press is riddled with stories of abortion-clinics exploding. No wonder someone thought is was a bomb.

But, wait a sec, the one and only bombing ever to occur in Canada in relation to an abortion clinic was in 1992. Hmm, that’s (…1…2 …carry the 4…) over 16 years ago!

I wonder if the reaction from emergency services would have been the same had the suitcase been found outside a Denny’s.

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Brigitte adds: As a certified paranoid (perhaps in part due to having spent time in France during a Vigipirate episode), I admit I always look twice at such objects. You never know, and failure to notice a dangerous package might easily be catastrophic. But  there’s a difference between looking twice and freaking out unduly, given that abandoned empty suitcases are mostly an affront to our aesthetic sensibilities. Oh, and I love the last line in the story Tanya links to:

Anti-abortion protesters often march and wave placards outside the clinic.

But of course. Placard wavers! Not far from an abandoned suitcase! Who wouldn’t call the police?

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Andrea adds: What is more interesting than the short news story are the comments, including this one from one “Bunty W”:

So yeah, I’m glad I killed that fetus! Morgenthaler deserves sainthood as far as I’m concerned.

and this on the “clump of cells” argument:

You (who have clearly never read a science textbook) will be amazed to know that YOU are just a cluster of cells. Trees are clusters of cells, fish are clusters of cells… everything in the living world, AMAZING!

The comments go on for a long while. This is interesting, because the issue is resolved and has been closed for a very long time…this I know, for pro-choice advocates tell me so… (Sing with me.)

Ah yes, art

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Imagine if they’d gone with, oh, I don’t know, Mr. Obama instead? Think the neighbours would have found it giggle-worthy?

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) ― A Halloween decoration showing a mannequin dressed as vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hanging by a noose from the roof of a West Hollywood home is drawing giggles from some passers-by and gasps of outrage from others.

The mannequin is dressed in brunet wig, glasses and a red business suit. Another mannequin dressed as John McCain emerges from a flaming chimney.

Chad Michael Morisette, who lives in the house, told CBS 2 News that drivers and bus passengers have been stopping to snap pictures of the macabre scene.

Morisette says the effigy would be out of bounds at any other time of year, but it’s within the spirit of Halloween.

He says “it should be seen as art, and as within the month of October. It’s Halloween, it’s time to be scary it’s time to be spooky.”

Give the lady a break, will ya?

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So now it’s wrong to be a strong, independent-minded woman? Stories about how Sarah Palin is “going rogue” because she said a few (relatively minor) things that weren’t vetted by McCain’s aides are being played as though she had warned that America would be faced with a difficult crisis should McCain be elected president… And so what if she’s positioning herself for 2012? Who could blame her? (And, huh, aren’t we supposed to admire ambitious women?) Watch the first minute and a half or so of this video and tell me: Am I being too soft on Palin or are reporters desperately picking nits?

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Tanya must say: Those robotic messages ARE annoying, and I thank Palin for saying as much.

I had one of those automated dealies wake me the very morning of our recent election day.  The message bade me, “Good evening,” and insisted it was crucial that I “vote tomorrow.”

I think the term ‘annoying’ is spot-on, really.

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Andrea adds: I shouldn’t be, but I’m amazed that I could listen to a political pundit for so long and learn so little. On the flip side, I caught the tail end of CTV’s Question Period today, and there seemed to be two intelligent American women discussing the election, neither of whom were doing Ye Olde Sarah Palin is of the Devil dance, but rather providing a bit more nuanced commentary. For the five minutes I saw, anyway.

On loneliness and depression

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Great piece in the Ottawa Citizen . It’s about assisted suicide and euthanasia and makes a tremendous argument against the practice. It concludes by saying:

There is a cultural assumption that severe disability is worse than death, and so to Daniel’s parents it was completely normal that their 23-year-old son wanted to die. Perhaps they were right. Maybe for Daniel, disability really would have been worse than death. But he should have been given a chance to discover otherwise.

This is our cultural assumption–that death is better, in particular in cases of disability. For that, we have no proof at all. (Tell me now, who is making a leap of faith with their arguments?)

Depression and loneliness are huge factors in wanting to die, in wanting someone else to die (in the case of abortion). Again, is killing the best we can come up with in these dire, sad circumstances?

Another classy move from the fashion world

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I’d say I’d boycott Levi’s for this, the “Unbutton Your Beast” campaign. But truth is, I’ve never actually fit into anything they make.

(This, by the way, intrigues me. I question the company that makes jeans that don’t fit the average female, no matter what size she tries on. Some companies apparently cater exclusively to those women who are emaciated and extremely tall. You’d think they’d want a slightly broader profit margin. But I digress. And I agree with Wendy Shalit. Unbutton your beast? Er, please don’t.)

SNL on Palin

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Saturday Night Live on Sarah Palin. No, not Tina Fey. Lorne Michaels:

Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of “Saturday Night Live” who lives on the forward wave of American life, gave his view of Sarah Palin this week to EW.com: “I think Palin will continue to be underestimated for a while. I watched the way she connected with people, and she’s powerful. Her politics aren’t my politics. But you can see that she’s a very powerful, very disciplined, incredibly gracious woman. This was her first time out and she’s had a huge impact. People connect to her.”

If she’s truly such a bimbo, it makes idiots of those obsessed with pulling her down. Why waste valuable column inches in stating the obvious? No, they write about her precisely because she’s not a “caribou barbie,” after all. (I don’t think they can have it both ways.)

And speaking of lead balloons

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If Wente wants to talk lead balloons, let’s talk a McCain candidacy without Sarah Palin. The reality is that McCain is a weak candidate. The only inspiring thing he’s done is choose Sarah Palin as a running mate. Certainly, this is not the view of the media elite, of that I’m well aware.

It may take years to see who has the last laugh, because I don’t believe the McCain ticket will win. But they won’t lose because of Sarah, that’s for sure. As for all the femme fatale nonsense? Seems to me Wente’s fallen into the trap of thinking good looks and brains are mutually exclusive. And that only men like her. Oh dear.

Palin is a strong and attractive candidate. But how she looks is neither here nor there, save for columnists who use that as an excuse–when really, not so secretly, it’s her ideas they abhor.

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Rebecca adds: “Seems to me Wente’s fallen into the trap of thinking good looks and brains are mutually exclusive.”

If I thought in stereotypes as shallow as those Wente indulges in that column, I’d be tempted to expand upon Andrea’s observation.

Palin has lots of male fans, but the news has been for a month and a half how she has energized the Republican base and women. Wente isn’t dumb, so she must be pretty blinded by her obvious resentment to have missed this point.

Girls gotta shop

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No, seriously. I don’t get at all excited over the $150,000 spent on Sarah Palin’s clothing, hair, and make-up for the duration of the campaign since Labour Day. That’s 60 days (I’m presuming she’s not getting much time away from the cameras) of campaigning. That means $2,500 per day. I wouldn’t be surprised if she used up two outfits per day – she works very long hours, you know – and required a few pit-stops to freshen up her do. I’ve done my share of television, and I can tell you that if you want to look presentable without being too uncomfortable, you’ve got to spend money on good quality clothes. (I love Wal-Mart for a lot of things; pant suits not among them.)

And you know, Sarah Palin looks great. I want a politician who’s like me and who understands my concerns, sure. But I don’t necessarily want a politician who looks like me…

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Patricia adds: This story is so obviously and desperately calculated I cannot believe it will have any traction. But I am so often forced to believe the unbelievable that I should probably give up on incredulity.

It’s clear that those women who might be inclined to identify with Sarah Palin (those “hockey mums”) are supposed to feel betrayed and outraged that Sarah doesn’t buy all her clothes at Costco and Winners (just to pull a few random examples of low end shops that come to mind for no particular reason at all). I suspect that most of those hockey mums will react with the same shrug as Brigitte, if not a bit of sympathy for the fact that Sarah is once again being attacked for something that most of us wish we could do. Not only that, but the attack is coming from people who probably spend an awful lot of their disposable income on looking good, with no compelling reason to do so (such as being under a hostile media microscope 24/7).

Look, I can’t quite imagine being in Sarah Palin’s shoes. I am an unemployed housewife. But I do have something of a professional background and a vivid imagination. I can imagine nothing worse than having my wardrobe (even at its height during my years of work on Bay Street) scrutinized by the media, especially a media viscerally hostile to me and everything I stand for. And, let’s face it, all those women who would hate me for not being “one of them” would probably have better clothes than me, especially since the fancy professional wardrobe was the first item that dropped off my budget priority list when child care, children’s clothes, schooling, piano lessons, dance lessons, a bigger vehicle, braces, haircuts, dentistry, prescriptions, etc., etc., etc., went on the list.

So, if, for example, some fixer from the party’s National Committee said, “Don’t worry about clothes. We have a budget and a personal shopper who can take care of that for you”, I’d breathe a huge sigh of relief, say “yes, please” and move on to more important matters.

I suspect that’s what Sarah Palin did. So, once again, it’s pretty rich that she is being attacked for it by people who probably spend a lot more of their personal energy on looking good than she ever could, given her other responsibilities, and who would be the first to mount a catty little whisper campaign, if not full-on attack, if her clothes did not live up to their standards.

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Andrea adds: Trish and Brigitte, agreed. And the more ridiculous the attacks on Palin get, the more inclined I am to support her. Also been looking for the “clothing budget” for Joe Biden. Funny, I can’t find it. Seems to me in this case, Palin may just be a bit too good looking–a story driven by jealousy if I ever saw one.

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Andrea again: Mark Steyn on Palin’s shoes is worth cutting and pasting in full.

A Woman’s Right to Shoes

I must say I’ve never been much of a foot fetishist (and please, any members of Foot Fetishists For Obama: no email blitzes pointing out what a pedophobe I am). Nevertheless, since the investigative research units of our major media operations developed their peculiar obsession with Sarah Palin’s shoes, I’m beginning to enjoy the kinky frisson of it all. This Chicago Sun-Times photo gallery is especially impressive. And, by the way, if you think it’s easy photographing Governor Palin’s feet all day when you could be out investigating Acorn, these pictures are taken at some pretty severe angles. At least when they’re with Obama, they only have to throw themselves at his feet metaphorically.

On the other hand, it’s far easier photographing Joe Biden’s footwear because it’s generally in his mouth.

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Tanya looks into this important issue more deeply: Apparently, a guy’s gotta shop, too. Obama’s suits are $1,500 a pop.

I second this editorialist:

Older photographs, from when Palin was just a regular old governor and paid for her own clothes, show her wearing fleece jackets, chunky turtlenecks and windbreakers. Her wardrobe probably did need a little help. Truthfully, whose wouldn’t?

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Andrea notes that her own wardrobe is perfect. I recently came to work wearing a turtleneck I had thought I might give to Goodwill–but then decided it wasn’t nice enough. (I didn’t have a single meeting that day, but wouldn’t Murphy’s Law dictate someone come in to the office unannounced? Right on.)

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