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Support the Christian Advocacy Society of Greater Vancouver

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Today, more than ever, Christians are under attack. Christians have always been responsible for doing  good work–creating hospitals, running hospices and homes for the homeless, the abused and those who cannot help themselves. The Christian Advocacy Society of Greater Vancouver is one such group–helping others, including mothers who are unexpectedly pregnant in a manner that is truly compassionate.

You can learn more about their work in this YouTube clip.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKPJ46xDJuw]

Their executive director Brian Norton and I have been emailing for some years now. He takes time, a lot of time, to compassionately explain to people who misunderstand the work of say, for example, crisis pregnancy centres, what they are all about. What they do–and don’t do. He wrote an entire report debunking some of the myths about crisis pregnancy centres.

So on November 3, if you are in the Vancouver area, come and support them. Do not come because I happen to be speaking, but because they do good work, which I also support. And because in the bigger picture, NOW is the time to show support for those Christians doing good work in a sphere that is public. This group is a worthy one for your valued charitable dollar.

Monday November 3, 2014
7 pm – 9:30 pm
Venue: Bethany Baptist Church
22680 Westminster Hwy, Richmond

Tickets are 20 dollars, and there is dessert and live music too!

Left, right and the path toward death

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Over three decades ago in Ottawa, there was a municipal government push toward accessibility for the disabled. Sidewalks were lowered at intersections to accommodate wheelchairs, elevators were mandated in all public buildings as were ramps. This approach to life came with onerous expenses in some cases, but no matter: Compassion is costly. These were all thought to be progressive and humane approaches to living in a community that cared. They were also approaches to community living that came from the left of the political spectrum.

The Ontario Human Rights Code states that every person in Ontario has the right to equal treatment with respect to services, goods and facilities, without discrimination because of a disability. Every province has a similar statement and of course, this protection exists federally.

Oddly enough, this equality may be the very thing that disabled people end up using to ensure they have access to death on their terms.

The left and the right have taken odd turns in recent years. Those advocating for the disabled and the elderly are now seemingly on the right, standing firm against assisted death even when it’s deceptively cloaked in palliative care. Especially when it’s deceptively cloaked in palliative care.

It is worth asking whether progressives are on the right now.

Compassion is still being meted out, but as always, compassion is costly. There is a personal cost to accompanying and accommodating someone who needs assistance. But true compassion affirms the dignity of every person, regardless of cost.

Of course debates about left and right and compassion are fraught with difficulty–everyone is playing the compassion card. But it used to be that the left said “to heck with the cost,” in order to achieve compassion. Maybe some still do.

As Canada considers legalizing assisted suicide, we ought to be ever reminded that killing is not a compassionate measure, no matter what side of the political spectrum presents the option.

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Register for the National 2014 Pro-Life Conference now!

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National Conference 2014

When you attend this year’s National Pro Life Conference, you will be inspired, engaged and educated through keynote and breakout sessions.

The Conference runs Thursday, October 23rd – Saturday, October 25th in Vancouver, BC at the gorgeous Richmond Delta Hotel.

Our phenomenal lineup of speakers include Destiny Herdon-De La Rose and Jason Jones with entertainment from the talented Matt Day.

You will also have the opportunity to hear from many other influential advocates and leaders including:

Destiny Herdon-De La Rosa | Founder & President – New Wave Feminists
Dr. Stuart Brown | Palliative Care Physician
Mike Schouten | Campaign Director – We Need A Law
Pavel Reid | Director of Office, Life & Family
Natalie Sonnen | Executive Director – LifeCanada
James Borkowski | Executive Director – Signal Hill
JM Boyd | Partner – Glass Canvas Media
Jason Jensen | Partner – Glass Canvas Media
Dan & Joy Loney | Directors of The James Project

For more information and for the registration form go here .

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Euthanasia may be coming to a hospital near you

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The frightening prospect of legalized euthanasia seems to be coming at Canadians like a tidal wave.

It has already happened in Quebec this summer when euthanasia was legalized thanks to the efforts of Ms. Hivon.

“The approach we took was one of health care. We should not leave anybody suffering at any stage, so why would it be okay at the end of life” she is quoted as saying in a Globe and Mail article on October 9th. “Our bill is about people who are ill and who are suffering and who need to have their pain alleviated.”

Unfortunately “alleviating suffering” for Ms. Hivon is synonymous with murder.

Yesterday the Supreme Court heard testimonies on why assisted suicide should or should not be a human right.

Government lawyers defending the Criminal Code prohibition of euthanasia were grilled by the Supreme Court Justices. According to one source, Joe Arvay for the Carter side (read pro-assisted suicide/euthanasia) had the court’s ear a bit too much.

In a recent Globe article, Prof. Jocelyn Downie a known, avid pro-euthanasia advocate: “The issue of provincial jurisdiction is squarely in front of the court.”

If the Supreme Court does rule that the Criminal Code prohibition against assisted suicide is unconstitutional, Prof. Downie says that the federal government will then “know what it can and cannot do in drafting the new legislation that will be necessary.” Simply put, the Federal Government won’t have a leg to stand on and euthanasia/assisted suicide will be the order of the day.

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My daughter is a stripper for Third Wave Feminism

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I came across Brain, Child Magazine this summer. Someone sent me a link to an adoption article they published, and I was hooked. The article was a quality piece and I was challenged by what I read.

Today I received my first email newsletter and it included a link to this article. I think it’s important to read the author’s note before reading the article itself:

I recently held my first grandchild in my arms and looked at his mother—my daughter and the subject of this essay. Although we talk constantly, there is a point at which no words can convey what we have been through. My daughter is experiencing her own version of that incredible connection of mother to child. Seeing her as a strong, loving adult fills me with a hope that I want to pass on to other mothers with troubled children. With my daughter’s encouragement, I have submitted this essay for publication.

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I’m not sure why I’m sharing this article. It’s a sad read. It’s not about abortion. It’s about a mom dealing with a reality she never thought she would have to face with and for her daughter. It ends on a hopeful note.

I take a deep breath and ask why. She fiddles with her hair and says she is tired of part-time, minimum wage jobs that require the intellectual capacity of a mentally challenged baboon. She says she has an obligation to strike a blow for Third Wave Feminism. She says she is morally responsible to use her sexuality as a weapon against the property owning capitalist powers that would subdue the proletariat. She says this is something she has to do—to feel in control. She says she doesn’t know why.

We’re living in such a broken world.

“What is the price of being forced to raise a brown baby?”

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And this is the type of question that the sexual revolution requires us to answer. The story:

Jennifer Cramblett and her wife, Amanda Zinkon, wanted a white baby. They went to the Midwest Sperm Bank near Chicago and chose blond, blue-eyed donor No. 380, who looked like he could have been related to Zinkon. When Cramblett was five months pregnant, they found out that she had been inseminated by donor No. 330 — a black man. […]

That leads some to believe that Cramblett is asking to be paid for the difficulties that many black folks — and white parents of adopted black children — deal with without compensation.

“I don’t think I deserve anything more being the white parent of a black child than any parent of a black child does,” says Rory Mullen, who adopted her daughter. […]

But she thinks the fact Cramblett waited more than two years to sue indicates that the experience of raising a black child is her real problem.

“When you say this is too hard, I didn’t deserve this, this is too much for me to handle, then the child internalizes it and it affects their self-esteem,” she says. “It’s my job to pour self-esteem into my daughter, not tear it down.”

If you have time, read the whole article. The journalist, Jesse Washington, did a good job of interviewing parties on both sides of this race and parenting debate. The story is interesting and it’s sad. I often wonder if the parents of these wrongful birth suits think of the impact of them on the children, and whether they are truly worth the cost. I’d like to see some research on the long-term impact of these suits on kids. I don’t imagine the children come away unscathed.

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Egg freezing: New employee perk

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I’ve now received this news item three times. This is a subtle cue for me to do a post. The undertone from those sending the item, of course, is that this is strange and/or upsetting.  And it is.

Two major companies, Apple and Facebook, are offering egg freezing as a perk for their female employees.

Two Silicon Valley giants now offer women a game-changing perk: Apple and Facebook will pay for employees to freeze their eggs. Facebook recently began covering egg freezing, and Apple will start in January, spokespeople for the companies told NBC News. The firms appear to be the first major employers to offer this coverage for non-medical reasons.

“Having a high-powered career and children is still a very hard thing to do,” said Brigitte Adams, an egg-freezing advocate and founder of the patient forum Eggsurance.com. By offering this benefit, companies are investing in women, she said, and supporting them in carving out the lives they want.

My take: This sort of “perk” highlights how this working world is very hostile to women. Work now. Work harder. Work more, in offices that are not conducive to having children. Have children, sure, but always later, later, later. But so that you feel better about that, freeze your eggs now.

It is almost exclusively my demographic that will take advantage of this. Younger women believe they can always have kids. It’s not something they question. Most women who are older than me will think it’s too late. But women in their 30s… that’s the demographic. Those women who quietly wonder what the point of the work, work, work is when there’s no family to come home to.

I think it’s insidious, to be perfectly honest. And sadly, some women will do it. Not because they think it’s a great idea, but rather because it’s an insurance policy, or so they think.

Finally, this is a symptom of a bigger problem, not the problem itself. So don’t blame the women who go ahead and do it. Just some random thoughts on the strangeness of our culture that pays lip service to giving perks to women while giving no perks to women.

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The Fathead Minnow on the Pill

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We study the effect of estrogen on the fish populations. I have no problem with that. We are then allowed to say if and when there are problems. Likewise, no problem with that. However, if anyone should assert that the effects of daily synthetic hormones on living, breathing women are problematic, it shall be denounced as heresy.

Here ends today’s lesson in what can and cannot be said publicly. I do hope the Fathead Minnows recover. (Everyone loves a good fishing expedition.)

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