VIDEO: My 13 Year Old Wants to Date

From Dr. Laura:



I know thirteen-year-olds shouldn't date because...I was thirteen once. Ay!

Is it too much to ask to put the onus back on people engaging in risky behaviour?

...asks Dave Breakenridge of the Calgary Sun.

When it comes to STIs, unless a government representative is monitoring state-sanctioned, laboratory-controlled intercourse, people have to be held responsible for their choices and be reminded of the consequences of their actions.

...

But with myriad resources available — online, doctors, clinics, universities, colleges, governments and non-profits to name just a few — there is little excuse for adults not knowing this stuff.

So what are they not getting?

...that if you sleep around, even while using condoms, you're going to get infected, especially if you go on drinking binges or use alcohol.

When you look at the academic literature of problematic "sexual risk-taking", the samples in the studies are full of people who have lots of partners, drink a lot, take drugs and who engage in other kinds of dysfunctional behaviour.

You don't get a lot of people who are married, or who stick to one partner long term (even if not married).

The kind of people who are the greatest risk of getting STI's are the kind of people who are not tuned in to responsible behaviour in the first place. They are largely deluded about the risks and consequences of their behaviour, and instead of telling them directly to stop, we engage in the stupid practice of harm reduction, which sends the implicit message that what they're doing isn't so bad:  You don't have to stop engaging in anonymous sex in the park, we're just make it safer for you. Don't actually exercise self-control, we know that it's impossible for people to do anyway, especially gays.

As long as we pretend that harm reduction works, that it's all about public health strategies instead of holding people accountable for their dumb choices, this problem will not go away.

People who dump on Christianity think they're so tough

Ian Robinson:

I don’t have any kind of edgy street cred because I’m not in a punk band. Kinsella is and I think it’s just adorable people in the twilight of their lives still play in bands nobody’s heard of while popping Lipitor — not to mention Viagra on the off chance one of their peers rushes the stage waving a flag-sized pair of granny panties.

But bottom line is guys like Kinsella and the no-names in Living With Lions don’t take on “organized religion” now, do they?

They take on Christianity.

That was kind of edgy … in 1966. Today, not so much.

Add to that the fact ranting against Christianity is kind of like kicking an old lady.

Christians are prohibited by their faith from rising up in high dudgeon and kicking your ass. They’re supposed to turn the other cheek.

So when you piss off Christians by portraying their saviour as a piece of crap, they tend to write stern letters to the editor and their MP.

While Christianity has its share of nutjobs (See: Camping, Harold — Apocalyse Not) when you annoy them they don’t riot in the streets. They don’t attack embassies. They don’t kill members of other religions.

I would add that the Christian nutjobs are often lone or marginal actors who are subject to ridicule and condemnation by mainstream Christians.

However, in Islam, supporting terrorism is not a marginal viewpoint, especially in the Islamic world.

When you offend a Christian, they say "I'll pray for you."

When you offend a radical Muslim, they threaten to kill you.

 Perhaps that's the reason why people like  to pick on Christianity rather than Islam.

The future of reproduction: artificial wombs

From people who don't get gender:

With artificial wombs, mothers-to-be can skip maternity leaves, and certain physical vocations—like athletics and dance—will not be impacted because health won’t be compromised. Women’s competitiveness in certain areas—like politics and high finance—would subsequently accelerate. Shulamith Firestone opined that “once women break free from the tyranny of their reproductive biology, they could achieve full equality with men.”

It all sounds so good.

But it won't happen that way.

Women will be further objectified because their own humanity, that is, their ability to reproduce, will be denied of them.

Women who decided to have babies the old-fashioned way will be discriminated against. You don't have to be pregnant, so why should society honour your choices?

This is just an extension of the contraceptive mentality. Society will only be the more miserable for it.

Cybertronian channels a generation of faithful Catholic men

Memo to the professional Catholics of Canada:

People, time to cut the bull****. You would think that Jesus is some Mr Rogers type character going around colouring banners especially the way that generation passes Him off as. Am I being uncharitable? No,..I'm being a guy who was once a boy who had to choose between hockey practice in the morning or catechism with Father Fruitloop. At ten years old, I chose hockey practice, not because I rejected Jesus, I simply rejected the crappy assault on my nature perpetrated by an agenda laden generation intent on feminizing the culture. Men are men and women are women.

Why the aggressivity you ask?,.Well,.because I had to sit through confirmations and witness an all out assault on the liturgy, (guess I should be disensitized by now...) and now we were told about our 'feelings'..Then we wonder why the west is in the shape its in. Friends of mine who are secular or Catholic by culture wonder why I practice my Faith, knowing that I'm a sinner, yet still striving for holiness. When I get asked questions regarding philosophy and objective truth, St Thomas,..the Cross,..etc...I answer about how cool the Mass is, then when the Church is full of these secular people, they(liturgy commitee..) break out their syrupy stupidity and lo and behold they wonder aloud why there are no vocations? Grey haired freakos,..yes you,..the ones who don't have the balls to write an intelligent comment and who instead flood my hotmail under the name 'anonymous,' you know who you are,...Here is your call to action: The next time you find the Pope too insensitive or whatever, look up from your pew, see the exit sign, or fire escape for all I care and leave! There is an anglican Church somewhere who I'm sure will tolerate you even worshipping Baal...Just stop trying to harm the Church, because you will ultimately lose.

I object.

I'm a woman and I don't like Father Fruitloop's liturgy either.

Women like talking about their feelings. It doesn't mean they can't tell the difference between substance and pap!

VIDEO: March for Life in Bordeaux

The other video on this March for Life was taken down, so I decided to see if there were others. And indeed there were.

This is how you stage a pro-life march. And video. The French always seem to know how to do things with a little panache.



Compare with the counter-protest.

Abortion Gang: I wish I could give her that late-term abortion

From Steph at the Abortion

Angela (name changed) was one such a case. She called our hotline when she was well over the legal limit for an abortion–over 24 weeks. She had been trying to have an abortion for two months, but because of various medical conditions and never having enough money, she was turned away from many local providers. She’s in a conundrum. She needs to have an abortion. The only provider that will see her is 5000 miles away, and that abortion is $9000, not to mention travel and lodging. Angela couldn’t afford to feed her children last week. Where will she come up with $9000?

There is no easy solution here. I wish I had a big bag of abortion money and could grant Angela the abortion of her dreams. Unfortunately, Angela couldn’t get that abortion. I wish I could’ve called Congress and put her on speaker phone. I wish I could call Henry Hyde and have him listen to her cry. My heart aches for her and for all women in her situation.

But the fetuses who have to suffer and die from the abortion? Not so much

I loved this line:

Until politicians hear the voices and experiences of women like her, restrictions on this legal medical procedure will continue to roll out of Capitol Hill and states across the nation.

They really have no sense of what it is that they're promoting, do they?

Note to poor-choicers: so long as people envision little babies having their hearts pierced with solutions of potassium chloride, no amount of crying from "desperate women" will change people's minds on late term abortion. You lost on that front. Deal with it.

Obama Administration threatens Indiana over defunding Planned Parenthood

So let me get this straight.

The Obama administration wants states to offer tax-subsidized medicine to the poor.

And because Indiana has allegedly denied this tax-subdizied medicine to the poor, the Obama administration has decided to ... deny even more tax-subsidized medicine to the poor.

Yeah that makes sense. #NoNotReally

Video: My baby's ultrasound at 19 weeks

I came back from my mid-pregnancy ultrasound today and I learned that I'm having another girl. So that's four for me! (Plus one in heaven).

Here's the ultrasound that I uploaded to Youtube. Highlights including my baby sucking on amniotic fluid and playing with her toes.

(Note, I'm 20 weeks LMP as of today, but the ultrasound dates the pregnancy at about 19 weeks. Just sayin'!)

Just FYI: the ultrasound technician kept referring to my fetus as "the baby". And yet, I've argued with pro-choicers that there is "no such thing as an unborn child." Denialism at its worst.

Controversial Abortionist Runs LateTermAbortion.net

As I was doing research on an unrelated matter, I happened upon this website called LateTermAbortion.net run by disgraced abortionist James Prendergaft.

It looks pretty shady to me. Although an email address and a phone number is provided, few details about location are offered.

And this made me laugh:

Orlando Women's Center and its affiliated Centers have been in business since 1996. Dr. Pendergraft is a Board Certified Ob/Gyn with over 25 years of experience performing abortion procedures. His safety record is impeccable.

Yeah, that's why he had his license suspended. Uh-huh.

Proving once again that abortion is a shady business.

Study Finds Children Raised in Lesbian Familes More Likely to Identify as “Partly Homosexual”

From the Volokh Conspiracy:

The study was part of an ongoing study that, at this stage, involved 77 families, “31 continuously-coupled, 40 separated-mother, and six single-mother families,” and 78 17-year-old children (one family had twins). Of the girls, nearly 50% described themselves as at least partly homosexual in orientation, though 30% out of that 50% were “predominantly heterosexual, incidentally homosexual.” (None of the girls, though, identified themselves as predominantly or exclusively lesbian.) Of the boys, a bit over 20% described themselves as at least partly homosexual in orientation, though 13% out of that 20% described themselves as “predominantly heterosexual, incidentally homosexual.” (Two of the boys identified themselves as predominantly or exclusively gay.)

VIA.

VIDEO: March for Life in Bordeaux

Bordeaux's 3rd annual March for Life took place on Saturday.

About 2000 people were in attendance. There was also a counter-protest and approximately 500 riot police were out in force to hold them back.

Note in the video: no police presence for the pro-lifers.

The pro-lifers in the video are quite a joyful people, as opposed to the typical anger you see from pro-choicers.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear David MacDonald's "Yes to Life".

Check out all the colour and sound in the video. We can learn a lot from the French.

Is sexual orientation fixed? Psychology Today Article Says No

Homophobe!


So a gay man gets to say it. When it comes out of the mouths of social conservatives, it's homophobic.

Ontario: FOI rules to apply to hospitals

Let's see how they justify hiding abortion stats.

But DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT try to promote abstinence

(Formatted for easier reading):

Young age at first intercourse and risk-taking behaviours--a study of nearly 65 000 women in four Nordic countries.

(...)

BACKGROUND: Risk-taking behaviours such as early initiation of smoking, alcohol drinking and sexual activity often cluster within individuals and could be characteristics of adolescents who in general are risk takers. In the present study, using a large population-based sample of 64 659 women aged 18-45 years in four Nordic countries, we investigate whether young age at first sexual intercourse is associated with subsequent risk-taking behaviours.

METHODS: We examined the association between young age at first sexual intercourse (age ≤14 years) and subsequent risk-taking behaviours by using multivariate logistic regression by which odds ratios (ORs) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were estimated.

RESULTS: The OR of reporting more than 10 lifetime sexual partners was almost four times higher among women who reported a young age at first intercourse (OR = 3.79; 95% CI: 3.60-4.00) in comparison with women >14 years at first intercourse.

Furthermore, women who were young at first intercourse were more likely to report two or more recent partners (OR = 1.67; 95% CI: 1.54-1.82) and to have a history of STIs (OR = 2.03; 95% CI: 1.93-2.13).

In addition, young age at first intercourse was associated with current smoking (OR = 2.31; 95% CI: 2.20-2.43) and binge drinking (OR = 1.36; 95% CI: 1.28-1.44). All ORs were adjusted for age, years of education and country of residence.

CONCLUSION: Young age at first intercourse is associated with subsequent risk-taking behaviours. Our study emphasizes the importance of targeting prevention efforts towards the complexity of risk-taking behaviours.

But don't try to tell thirteen- and fourteen- year-olds they're too young. Don't try to protect their innocence. It would spoil the fun.

Richard Warman sues Free Dominion for the fifth time

Doesn't this qualify as a contentious litigator?

But then maybe that's the whole point.

UPDATE: I stand corrected, the proper term is "vexatious litigant".

On Anti-Catholicism

Michael Coren:

My experience has taught me that attacks usually begin with the history, then with a misunderstanding of what the Church believes and teaches, then with angry comments about why the Church is so “obsessed” with the life issues and then a whole bunch of criticisms. These days, tragically, the Catholic clergy abuse scandal is thrown in somewhere. It has to be discussed – but honestly and accurately.

The rest of the punches thrown at the Catholic body? The Church was nasty to Galileo; the Church tried to convert Muslims, and the Crusades were horrible; Hitler was a Catholic and the pope was a Nazi; the Inquisition slaughtered millions of people; the Church is rich and does nothing for the poor; children were abused and the Vatican knew about it all and did nothing; celibacy leads to perversion; Catholics worship statues; Catholics believe the pope is infallible and can never do anything wrong; and so on and so on and so on.

It’s all nonsense. Yet nonsense that is given a veneer of credibility by thinking people who shape opinion. All this makes the Church unique in the twenty-first century as a victim institution. In almost every other area, we’ve matured as a people and a culture to the point where such crass generalizations and fundamentally flawed opinions would not make it past the alehouse door.

There are two reasons they are allowed to persist.

One is that the Church's enemies find them useful.

Two is that Catholics, particularly professional Catholics, don't stand up to challenge these beliefs.

They've swallowed up the ambient secular culture and undermining secularism might turn them into the, ahem, Taliban, and undermine their own theological agenda.

Regarding Catholic Priestly Abuse

There's a meme that bugs me:

One: Most clerical abusers were not pedophiles, that is, men with a chronic and strong sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children. Most of those abused (51 percent) were aged eleven to fourteen and 27 percent of victims were fifteen to seventeen; 16 percent were eight to ten and 6 percent were younger than seven. Males between eleven and fourteen account for more than 40 percent of all victims. Clerical ephebophilia (a sexual attraction to adolescents, often boys) was clearly a serious problem. But to label this a “pedophilia crisis” is ignorant, sloppy, or malicious.

Well that's so comforting.

If the kid's only eleven then it's not truly pedophilia.

Whew!

I don't think most journalists, let alone most people, have that precise a definition of pedophilia.

Calling it a different name doesn't diminish what it is, which is sick.

Four: The bishops’ response to the burgeoning abuse crisis between the late 1960s and the early 1980s was not singularly woodenheaded or callous. In fact, according to the John Jay study, the bishops were as clueless as the rest of society about the magnitude of the abuse problem and, again like the rest of society, tended to focus on the perpetrators of abuse rather than the victims. This, in turn, led to an overdependence on psychiatry and psychology in dealing with clerical perpetrators, in the false confidence that they could be “cured” and returned to active ministry — a pattern that again mirrored broader societal trends. In many pre-1985 cases, the principal request of victims’ families was that the priest-abuser be given help and counseling. Yes, the bishops should have been more alert than the rest of an increasingly coarsened society to the damage done to victims by sexual abuse; but as the John Jay report states, “like the general public, the leaders of the Church did not recognize the extent or harm of victimization.” And this, in turn, was “one factor that likely led to the continued perpetration of offenses.”

I realize that Catholic bishops are products of their time.

But that's kind of the problem.

I feel like Catholics have lost the sense of outrage over grave sin.

Now, secular people might rejoice that bishops aren't as angered by abortion and homosexual behaviour as they once were.

The problem is that if you lose the sense of sin for some sins, you begin losing it for a wider range of sins.

This game of mustn't be judgemental came to bite us back in the butt.

Tony Clement vows to make government more transparent with online data

But that only works if the data released is accurate. Such as the data on abortion.

DiManno: End-of-life decision rests with family, not doctors

The problem is that under a universal healthcare system, doctors are going to be strongly influenced by a dollars-and-cents view of things.

Let's face it, it's easier to let the patient die than leave him "vegetate" in a bed for two weeks. He is a useless eater after all.

Interesting angle on the Linda Gibbons case

Gay Caswell is a former Saskatchewan MLA in Grant Devine's government who is trying to run an independent Catholic school in the northern part of the province. She has received nothing but grief for trying to stand for Catholic values.

Once you wrap your head about what she's talking about (as I believe this blog is published for the intent of those knowledgeable about her situation) you find that she has some very interesting insights.

And this is one of them:

Courts went ahead and tried her when she could not make the court hearings. A letter stated that a specific lawyer did not represent her was sent to the court. This letter was mysteriously “ lost.” Although the violation is a civil issue she has been tried in criminal court and obviously has had very stiff sentences. She has served the combined sentence of about three murders in the North, not counting the murders that are dismissed as suicides no matter how impossible.

Mrs. Gibbons is not well educated as in many degrees. She certainly isn’t rich and is poorer than many poor people. She is not well many times. Rather than these things being taken into consideration her lack of academic clout, poverty and illness are used against her. The Left- Libs who have always claimed to be custodians of human rights and defenders of the little guy have now become the flagrant, vicious bullies who sneer at those who suffer for righteousness’ sake.

Mrs. Gibbons’ case is going to the Supreme Court in the fall. The Ontario court system has done everything possible to stop that process. For years Mrs. Gibbons was unknown. Some so called prolifers found her commitment an embarrassment. They thought if word gets out that some people actually suffer to save babies how will we fill our committees? Now even the CBC has discovered Linda Gibbons and stated her treatment is

“ a challenge to free speech in Canada.”

But it's always the men's fault

Or why feminist arguments about the so-called wage gap are stupid.

Do women and men consider abortion as an alternative to contraception in the United States?

I'm posting this abstract of a study published by the Guttmacher institute FYI, because the sample is so small, I wonder why they even bothered to publish it. Still it could be of interest:

The USA, a country with widespread access to the full range of modern methods of contraception, continues to have one of the highest abortion rates among developed countries. Forty-nine per cent of women reported ever experiencing an unintended pregnancy in 2001; 48% of these conceptions occurred during a month that contraception was used. We explored the extent to which people use contraception and abortion interchangeably to achieve their fertility goals via focus groups (n=4) and semi-structured in-depth interviews (IDIs) (n=18) with men and women between the ages of 18 and 35 in New York City in 2006. While there was a consensus that abortion cannot replace contraceptive use, poor couple communication, lack of planning, lack of acceptable contraceptive methods and the pleasures that people associate with having unprotected sex result in the perception that some individuals rely on abortion over contraception to prevent unintended births. Men and women both identified women as solely in charge of avoiding an unwanted pregnancy and resolving it should one occur. No one supported repeat abortions for themselves or others, and many respondents perceived multiple abortions to lead to infertility, which strengthens their position that substituting abortion for contraception is unacceptable.

I note that the abstract does not appear to answer the question raised in the title.

But but but...they had a minority government back then!

Canadian Government Sponsoring Punk Album that depicts Jesus as...well you'll see. NSFW. Unless you work at the Canadian Human Rights Commission, in which case, this is totally kosher!

Yeah, I guess the Tories wouldn't want to lose that all important punk vote.

(And what kind of punk band takes money from the government? Seriously?)

I guess we can now look forward to rioting and a bunch of death threats from the Christian extremists.

Oh wait, wrong religion.

The bishop who wants to be loved

Canadian bishops take note:

[T]hinking of the bishops in general – and not in any way pointing to the Archbishop of Birmingham in particular – I am reminded of the writer Philip Trower’s analysis of our episcopate in his excellent book, Turmoil and Truth: The Historical Roots of the Modern Crisis in the Catholic Church.

In his chapter entitled “The Shepherds”, he writes, inter alia: “Misconceptions about the right way of being a servant have unfortunately resulted in the autocrat too often being replaced by the bishop who wants to be loved. The bishop who wants to be loved is frightened of losing his reputation for being ‘caring’ and ‘compassionate’ by doing something unpopular, even when this is what real love demands. Or he tries to ‘serve’ like a politician. When his flock goes into apostasy and heresy, he keeps it together by saying contradictory things to please all shades of opinion, or when the going gets tough, hides behind his diocesan bureaucracy. Or he becomes a kind of religious salesman. If he wants to attract Communist voters, he makes the faith sound as much as possible like Marxist Leninism. If, on the contrary, he is aiming at prosperous or hedonistically inclined sheep, he will refrain from speaking too harshly or too much about vice…”

Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex (Humour)

From the Onion:

The 900,000-square-foot facility has more than 2,000 rooms dedicated to the abortion procedure. The abundance of surgical space, Richards said, will ensure that women visiting the facility can be quickly fitted into stirrups without pausing to second-guess their decision or consider alternatives such as adoption. Hundreds of on-site counselors are also available to meet with clients free of charge and go over the many ways that carrying a child to term will burden them and very likely ruin their lives.

Study says drinking makes you stupid

"Our main finding was a clear association between binge drinking and a lower ability to learn new verbal information in healthy college students, even after controlling for other possible confounding variables such as intellectual levels, history of neurological or psychopathological disorders, other drug use, or family history of alcoholism," said Parada.

Well duh.

Or maybe it's just stupid people who binge drink.

Man cured of HIV because of gene immune stem cells

If this is for real, it's a great day in medicine.

The man received a bone marrow transplant which had genes that were HIV immune.

Bone marrow transplants have a relatively high rate of mortality, so this is not without risk. And finding the right donor would be difficult.

Nevertheless, it offers hope.

Would stem cells from other parts of the body of these HIV-immune people work? Perhaps this would be an interesting avenue to explore.

H/T: Jivin' J

Ontario school library staffing down: report

What did we do before the advent of teacher-librarians?

Staffing at school libraries across the province is declining, a trend that could affect children's ability to think critically about information, according to a report released by an education advocacy group.

The report by the group People for Education found 56 per cent of Ontario elementary schools in 2010 have at least one full- or part-time teacher-librarian, an accredited teacher who has library training. That's down from 80 per cent in the 1997/1998 school year, according to the report, which was released Monday morning.

How oh how will the children ever learn critical thinking skills without the librarian?

I remember our librarian in high school. I don't ever remember her ever helping me with "critical thinking skills."


And who funds this People for Education?

The Atkinson Charitable Foundation
Canadian Auto Workers
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario
The Ontario Ministry of Education
TD Financial
The Ontario Trillium Foundation
RBC Financial
Teow Family Foundation at the Toronto Community Foundation.

This made me laugh:

We are not affiliated with any political party or union and include parents from across the political spectrum.

Do you really suppose the Canadian Auto Workers would really fund a group that did not help attain socialist principles?

NZ: School Counsellor Arranges Secret Abortion

They can't hand out an aspirin without your permission, but they can arrange for your daughter to have surgery without your knowledge.

She said the law catered for the "lowest common denominator" – pregnancy as a result of incest or rape, but girls sometimes did not want to tell their parents for fear they would react badly or demand prosecutions for statutory rape if their daughters were under 16.

Wouldn't want prosecutions for statutory rape now, would we?

"If that protection disappeared, you can pretty well guarantee the young person won't tell the counsellor a thing – particularly the thing you need them to talk about."

You mean the way that parents can't tell their doctors just any old thing for fear they might be charged with abuse? That kind of lack of confidentiality?

Guidance counsellor Helen Bissett said the situation could be an "ethical nightmare", and a number of schools now had wellness centres so girls could see a nurse, not a counsellor.

Because it makes all the difference whether the abortion is arranged by a counsellor or a nurse. *Roll eyes*.

The relationship between the genetic counseling profession and the disability community: A commentary.

From a study abstract:

Since the inception of the field of genetic counseling, the profession has had a tenuous relationship with the disability community. Genetic counselors both offer prenatal diagnostic testing that allows individuals the opportunity to avoid the birth of a child with a disability and they advocate for the rights of individuals who have a disability. Some in the disability rights community have argued that they feel their lives and the lives of the disabled individuals in their families judged by the offer of prenatal genetic diagnosis and by the attitudes of genetic service providers they encounter in clinical settings. Select voices from the disability community fear that the result of developing technologies may contribute to a world less tolerant of disabilities. The available empirical data suggest that genetic counselors do little to counteract these perspectives. Although limited, investigations into the attitudes and practices of genetic counselors suggest that they have a more negative perspective on disabilities than individuals whose lives are directly affected by them and these attitudes may affect their description of disabling conditions in a prenatal setting. The National Society of Genetic Counselors, the organization that represents the profession in the US has more publicly aligned itself with abortion service providers over disease advocacy organizations, thus subjecting itself to the perception of bias. We suggest possible solutions to these criticisms and argue that individually and collectively, genetic counseling professionals should develop and identify opportunities to more fully support and advocate for the needs of a broader spectrum of clients.

Former Morgentaler Clinic Security Guard Clinic Speaks Out

I don't really feel like flushing out his comments about the behaviour of people on both sides of the abortion debate (the gist of which I agree with).

However, I just thought it was interesting to hear from someone who's been a security guard at an abortion clinic. You hear from all kinds of people in the abortion debate: the activists, the women who've had abortions, the dads, the relatives, the clinic staff, medical professionals, clergy, etc etc

But I don't think I've heard much from the security guards.

I remember some time ago when I went to a 40 Days vigil, I was praying with a Pentacostalist woman. A genuine, hardcore Pentacostalist who prayed with her hands in the air My kind of gal :) (Usually in Ottawa you get mostly Catholic pro-lifers). And the thing I like about the "Bible-only" types is that they have gumption. And this Pentacostalist lady went right up to the security guard and had a conversation with him.

That's just not done at 40 Days.

Usually, you keep to your side of the street, they keep to theirs, and the twain never meet. (Except for maybe the sidewalk counsellors).

Do you think this Pentacostalist lady is going to let mere convention stop her from having a desired conversation with security guard?

Hell no.

She went right up to him and chatted with him like it was no big deal.

And she came back and told me that this security guard called himself a Christian and that she "challenged" him on his abortion stance.

"Challenge"-- such a protestant  idea. We Catholics don't challenge. We propose. Like we're pitching an idea or something.

Anyhow, as I read the blogpost from the former security guard, I wondered if it was him.

I just thought it was interesting he would post, that's all, and I thought I'd throw it out there for the pro-life community to ponder.

And lastly, when you do go to 40 Days, remember you're not supposed to scream anything at the passers-by whether they're clients, staff or pedestrians. It's supposed to be a peaceful vigil. You're there to be a prayerful witness and a source of outreach. It's not a "protest" in the classic sense of the term. The strength of our witness is in our prayer and presence, not in our slogans.

Prochoice Fail

Seen at the counterprotest for the March for Life:

Big H/T to ProWomanProlife

US Sexual Behaviour Survey

Posted FYI.

(Formatted and punctuated for clarity:)

Among adults aged 25-44, about 98% of women and 97% of men ever had vaginal intercourse.

89% of women and 90% of men ever had oral sex with an opposite-sex partner.

36% of women and 44% of men ever had anal sex with an opposite-sex partner.

Twice as many women aged 25-44 (12%) reported any same-sex contact in their lifetimes compared with men (5.8%).

Among teenagers aged 15-19, 7% of females and 9% of males have had oral sex with an opposite-sex partner, but no vaginal intercourse.

Sexual attraction and identity correlates closely but not completely with reports of sexual behavior.

Sexual behaviors, attraction, and identity vary by age, marital or cohabiting status, education, and race and Hispanic origin.

I wish they would have had more of the last one in the abstract.

The Case Against Legalized Polygamy

Meet a Nigerian Islamic faith healer and polygamist man who has made marriage a full-time job, taking 107 brides and fathering 185 children.

So... how do you suppose he supports all these wives and kids? How good a dad do you think he is to his 185 children?

Oh wait, I know the leftist answer to the first question: Government child tax credits.

And to the second: who cares about dads.

TEST

Seeing whether I can post.

Quebec Human Rights Commission looks to wipe out racial profiling

So... no more assuming that people of colour are of lower socio-economic background?

A list of regional Marches for Life in Canada

Right here.

There is also a Christian March in Quebec City on June 4th.

I'm anxious to see the media coverage for that event.

Your Canadian tax dollars at work

From the Abortioneers:

I have hosted women from small towns within my own state, women from nearby states, and even a woman from Canada. They come to my large metropolitan city because they are past the legal limit in their state, or there just simply is not a provider trained or willing to perform abortions in the second trimester where they live. For example, the woman from Canada was within the legal limits, but there was not a provider, so her public health insurance PAID for the entire cost of her procedure in OUR country!

Yay, Canadian tax payers spent the money to have her baby killed.

But let's not reopen that nasty abortion debate or anything. Wouldn't want to save a life or anything.

More about that Respect Life Day Proclamation by the Ottawa Mayor

Whether or not the Mayor actually endorses this proclamation, it's getting free publicity for the March for Life. Well played, Campaign Life!

Pinch me I'm dreaming: Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declares ‘Respect for Life Day’ in advance of National March for Life

I wonder if he actually read the document.

Did he really sign that? Or was it just some bureaucrat who wrote something up and had him sign it blindly?

OTTAWA, Ontario, May 10, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, has proclaimed that the day of this year’s National March for Life, May 12th, be honored as ‘Respect for Life Day’ in the city.

“The rights of the people of Canada including the unborn, the elderly and those with handicaps are gradually being eroded,” the proclamation reads, adding that “the community needs to get involved to ensure the rights of all people are respected and upheld.”

This seems too good to be true.

If he really believes that, I might just vote for him next time around. I stress the word might.

UPDATE:

I thought there might be a bit of a catch to this. From the City of Ottawa website:

Proclamations do not constitute a personal or civic endorsement.

Requests for a proclamation should be submitted in writing to the Office of Protocol. The wording for the proclamation must be received in our office at least four-weeks in advance of the date required and not exceed 130 words. All requests must meet the criteria outlined in our policy.

Kinda lame if you ask me.

Oh I wish everyone would understand this

Mark Steyn explains why people are not upset about the Conservative proposal to criminalize the hyperlink.

At the tail end of the Cold War, I used to meet charming, intelligent eastern Europeans and wonder how they could live as they did. How could an educated citizenry not chafe under daily tyranny? I remember one of them - an amusing Hungarian cynic - explaining it to me: For most people, "rights" are theoretical. After all, how many rights do you actively need to avail yourself of to get through the day? To do your job, buy some dinner, watch a little TV. Maybe "free speech" is a big deal if you want to be a poet or a playwright, but for the rest of us, not so much so. And he gave a Mitteleuropean shrug.

I was aghast. But I wouldn't be today. Why not criminalize the hyperlink? After all, as that Hungarian might have said, how many hyperlinks does the average Canadian need to get through the day? What does one more concession to statism really matter?

OMG, that is one of themes of the novel I'm writing, and I'm so glad someone said it. I feel like someone else understands!

Homosexual men twice as likely to have cancer: study

But it has nothing to do with homosexual behaviour. Not one bit. Nope. Ignore your common sense.

Never Trust Child Protection (Video)

They have waaaaaay too much power.

I'm surprised that feminists don't bring this up more often. If there's any state agency likely to oppress women, it's this one.

And here's a kicker:

Experts say a child’s time in foster care is often prolonged because DHS requires the parents who are not even accused of abuse or neglect to comply with something called a “service plan” or “service agreement.” It’s a list of requirements that can include psychological evaluations and parenting classes, which often conflict with parents work hours.

So you're innocent...but you still have to jump through hoops to get your kids back.

There's only one word for it: totalitarian.

I wonder whether a number of children who are capable of being adopted were the children of parents who had their rights unfairly terminated.

Really, this is a worthy video. Watch it.

Development and Peace: the Truth will Out

Steve writes at SoCon or Bust:

When you have both the alleged co-author of the report (+Currie) and a prominent Archbishop (+Prendergast) both throwing the report under the bus within the same month, the writing was on the wall for the CCCB. Neither of the two catalysts above could have happened without LifeSiteNews and the blogs. It was LSN and the blogs that provided Archbishop Prendergast with the evidence to realize that the Centre PRODH was not squeaky clean. It was LSN that interceded with Archbishop Prendergast to cancel the visit. It was LSN that interviewed Archbishop Currie and obtained a confession from him.

Alas:

Yet, the CCCB statement doesn’t express any gratitude in their statement to Fr. Lacaille. Au contraire, they pulled no punches in blasting blogs and the social media for stirring the pot. They made every effort to make sure that no credit was attributed to them. They use our evidence but treat us as monsters.

Honestly, we don’t do this to gain credit. But the schizophrenic nature of the CCCB statement is troubling. It betrays the divisions among the episcopacy.

People don't give you credit for making them look bad.

That being said, the truth will out. It's only a matter of time. If you keep telling the truth, they have to react.

I don't expect a whole lot from the Conservatives

Which is probably why they were voted in.

It was Stephen Harper’s surprise campaign pledge: The Conservatives would erase Canada’s deficit in three years rather than four.

Oh joy. Meanwhile, we continue to accrue interest on the deficit and debt.

Now federal public servants will be under pressure to cut programs and trim staff to the tune of $11-billion over four years to deliver the Prime Minister’s promise.

Are you kidding me? Is this Canada we're talking about?

When the cuts come, the unions will react.

I expect that Harper and his government will fold. They do not have any spine.

Take something as un-controversial as reigning in the Human Rights Commissions. Did anything happen on that front? Would Harper have lost a single vote if had moved against them? No. Did he move? No.

With Stockwell Day gone, the Prime Minister must choose someone to lead this push for restraint as Treasury Board President.

For pity's sake, appoint Maxime Bernier. He might do something serious about reducing the size of government.

Says John Baird:

“I do think out of $278-billion we spend a year, I think we could find $4-billion annually without slashing and burning the public service,” he said in an interview with The Globe and Mail, stating some programs – like subsidies to political parties – will end.

Then what was the point of voting Tory?

Abortion is the worst kind of murder says Korean Bishop

My only beef is his faith in statism.

Otherwise, bravo.

The gay priest debate

Renew America:

'Studies have shown that priests who abused minors overwhelmingly preyed on teenage males. While a person who has this age preference might be called an ephebophile in psychiatric terms, it's still a disordered sexual desire. Since most have been directed toward males, it's also a manifestation of homosexuality. That is what homosexuality is: attraction to one's own sex. It's dishonest to classify it only as ephebophelia when both ephebophelia and homosexuality are present as dual components — each being an immature sexuality.

[...]

Men who act out with other men are often attracted to the bodies of teenage males because of the virility they perceive in the teenagers and the lack of it in themselves. Priests who have acted out with teenage males have been pansexual with adults as well, a point ignored in the study.

H/T: Doug Lawrence

Study: Sexual orientation and psychiatric vulnerability

It is often said that the higher vulnerability of queer youth to psychiatric problems is due to prejudice.

These researchers are trying to see if there are other possible alternate explanations:

Recent evidence indicates that homosexuals and bisexuals are, on average, at greater risk for psychiatric problems than heterosexuals. It is assumed with some supporting evidence that prejudice often experienced by nonheterosexuals makes them more vulnerable to psychiatric disorder, but there has been no investigation of alternative explanations. Here we used Eysenck's Neuroticism and Psychoticism scales as markers for psychiatric vulnerability and compared heterosexuals with nonheterosexuals in a community-based sample of identical and nonidentical twins aged between 19 and 52 years (N = 4904). Firstly, we tested whether apparent sexual orientation differences in psychiatric vulnerability simply mirrored sex differences-for our traits, this would predict nonheterosexual males having elevated Neuroticism scores as females do, and nonheterosexual females having elevated Psychoticism scores as males do. Our results contradicted this idea, with nonheterosexual men and women scoring significantly higher on Neuroticism and Psychoticism than their heterosexual counterparts, suggesting an overall elevation of psychiatric risk in nonheterosexuals. Secondly, we used our genetically informative sample to assess the viability of explanations invoking a common cause of both nonheterosexuality and psychiatric vulnerability. We found significant genetic correlation between sexual orientation and both Neuroticism and Psychoticism, but no corresponding environmental correlations, suggesting that if there is a common cause of both nonheterosexuality and psychiatric vulnerability it is likely to have a genetic basis rather than an environmental basis.

And no, I don't think it means there is a "gay gene". But I think that the psychiatric vulnerability could be what leads people to adopt a homosexual orientation.

Hudak backtracks on pledge to axe human-rights tribunal

Why do well-meaning, hardcore conservatives waste their time with the PC's?

They're progressive conservatives. The name says it all.

Family Coalition is always looking for people.

What the pro-aborts have in store for us at the Ottawa March for Life

Same old same old:

Noon: we meet on parliament hill (during the anti-choice christian ho-down) and take space with our sex-positiveness. Generally, the strategy here has been to sit or stand quietly. We will meet directly on the Hill this year, on the east side of the grass (you can generally spot us as we tend to have colourful homemade signs)

1:30pm: Like previous years, we will be near the Human Rights monument on Elgin street during the anti-ch...oice march *the exact spot is decided the day of as antis always get a permit for the monument before we know the exact date* it will likely be in front of 160 Elgin street.

What to bring; Yourself, lots of creative reproductive justice signs (see below), instruments (like drums or a trumpet), lovers, children, siblings and friends ready to loudly chant that «this f***** up shit has got to go». Bringing snacks to share is also always appreciated!

I don't expect to go. I find it hard to take in all the excitement/stress when I'm pregnant. I have to go get my kids after school so I have to make sure I'm up for that.

But to those of you who are going, I recommend two things:

1. Noisemakers. The louder the better.

2. Home-made signs. I know the organizers offer signs, but always seeing the same signs is boring.

Don't pay too much attention to the opposition. That's exactly what they want.

Jewish Archaelogist Saved By the Vatican

It's a short article, but worth the while.

We need more stories like this.

First mention of SoCon or Bust by Quebec Professional Catholics

One of my pet peeves surrounding the scandal and especially the blowback in the Development and Peace Scandal is that LifeSiteNews is always mentioned, but never the blogs.

Well, for the first time, I have seen professional Quebec Catholics mention John Pacheco, Steven Gonzalez and Socon or Bust.

It comes the from the blog of the ACPC-- the association of the French Candian Catholic Press. The blogpost was by François Gloutnay.

His post was about the pro-life conference that will be held in Quebec City on May 15th.

It mentions that the organizers hope that John Pacheco and Steven Gonzalez will accept their invitation.


Gloutnay says that they are run a "fundamentalist" blog who attacked Msgr Martin Veillette, the bishop of Trois-Rivières, who is said to have authorized the publication of an article in Le Devoir which criticized the Religious Right. Gloutnay calls that particular blogpost "venomous". He said that it mentioned that the bishop opposed Cardinal Ouellet's statement about abortion, and that he supported the ordination of women.

Gloutnay mentioned that they looked forward to Veillette's retirement at age 75. He quotes Steve as saying that Cardinal Ouellet will find someone solidly pro-life to replace him.

In context, this is meant to be a bad thing.

Well at least the Quebec media will begin to learn the names of the people involved in this story.

Perhaps this foray into openness will mean that we will finally have everything out in the open in Quebec and the rest of Canada.

Some people might think that Fr. Rosica calling us the "Catholic Taliban" was a bad thing. It wasn't terribly charitable, but the silver lining is that maybe we will finally have an authentic debate. I deliberately use the word debate instead of dialogue because the latter is used to suppress any kind of hostilty, opposition, argumentativeness and so forth.

And these exchanges turn out to be fake. And when it's fake it doesn't get to the heart of the matter.

So let's stop being fake, let's just have it out. It's not pretty, it may even be mean and nasty, but at least it's authentic. We get to the truth faster this way than trying to couch every statement in vague, diplomatic statements that leave themselves open to misinterpretation-- sometimes deliberately.

I note that Development and Peace supporters never attempts to prove that John and Steve and LifesiteNews are WRONG about what they say. It's just assumed they are wrong by virtue of the fact that they follow Church teaching. Or else they are assumed not to follow Church teaching, but no one produces the relevant passages of the Catechism. Which says something.

So this blogpost is a negative with a silver lining. It's time to get everything out in the open. Who's for Church teaching, and who's not.

Unenforced abortion laws don't stop abortions

From a study of Nigerian doctors:

The results showed that 22 percent of the doctors reported that they terminate unwanted pregnancies

I doubt they're doing them all to save the life of the mother.

Adolescent men's attitudes and decision-making in relation to an unplanned pregnancy.

Abstract:

Results showed that adolescent men were more likely to choose to keep the baby in preference to abortion or adoption. Adolescent men's choice to continue the pregnancy (keep or adopt) in preference to abortion was significantly associated with anticipated feelings of regret in relation to abortion, perceived positive attitudes of own mother to keeping the baby and a feeling that a part of them might want a baby. Religiosity was also shown to underlie adolescent men's views on the perceived consequences of an abortion in their lives.

Canadian Bishops Speak to Development and Peace Controversy

I think they read my blog.(See here)

Commentary at Socon.

Gotta go to bed.

The abortion is scheduled. Please pray for mother and child

Reported at Socon or Bust:

The niece and Godchild of a close friend of my is contemplating abortion.Her name is Brigitte, she is 17 and 7 weeks pregnant. The date set is May 18th. She is fully aware that it is a baby and the father and his parents are willing to go along with any decision she makes, so she has a choice.

About that Vatican Bloggers' Meetup

Question:

What was it about?

What did it accomplish?

Did anyone say anything the least bit trenchant or provocative? Did anyone talk about how our clergy in the West is not terribly orthodox and we need to cut the crap about this?

I read reports about it and I think to myself: what a snoozefest. More pontifications from Catholic official-dom.

If this is just another bla bla bla session where everyone is just nicey nicey to each other, I don't see the point.

The Church needs a good dose of Dr. Phil. It needs to get real with itself. Especially, it seems the Vatican.

I had a good belly laugh

Reading the latest installments of Bad Vestments.

Read the comments. Even funnier.

Parental intervention reduces number of sexual relations among adolescents

Says Mexican study.

Parental supervision and monitoring were a factor.

But we so-cons do that, right?

Conservatives plan to clamp down on Free Speech on the Internet

Everyone take notice!

This proposed bill would ban hyperlinking to "hate speech" sites.

This is extremely dangerous.

Sure, you might be safe now when the Conservatives are in charge (or maybe you aren't).

But wait until the socialists get into power.

This measure must be strongly opposed!

Blog it, tweet it, pass it on. People must know about this.

(This is why I did not vote Conservative. I should start a file.)

Sorry about my silence & Election commentary

Yesterday I worked in a polling station for the elections and I didn't get out until very late.

And I have several matters to attend to. I feel like a bit of a shmuck to keep you hanging like this.

I want to talk about the election results and I have a million things to say, like everybody else. I'm still taking it in. I'm trying to see the big picture with respect to pro-life and freedom issues. I want to write a long rambly post about it, but who am I kidding? It's not going to happen for the moment. Things are just piling up on my plate and I need to clear the docket.

When I get around to it, I'll write a post. Maybe tonight or tomorrow.

Why not use the comments section to give your reactions to the election?

Another angle on the Jack Layton Story

Gay Caswell makes a great point:

In 1996 NDP leader Jack Layton was caught in a police raid of an illicit massage parlour in the Chinatown of Toronto. These massage parlours are known as Rub and Tug places where drugs and other illicit activities including of course prostitution, male and female operate. Mr. Layton was found naked on his back. A not necessary condition or position for a medical massage.

So what is the response? The Toronto police are required to investigate the “leak”. They are not required to investigate the thousand illicit massage parlours which are part of drug ,prostitution rings of the mafia. They are required to investigate who told the public what the public has a right to know. The hand of Premier McGinty , Liberal and his crew is not so invisible in this.