Publicly funded lies

I did some research on Pregnancy Support Services of the Upper Ottawa Valley. It does have a website, but under another name, First Steps Options Centre.

And here's the money quote:

Our staff includes trained volunteers. The information we provide is not intended as a substitute for professional counselling. We are not a medical clinic and do not offer medical advice or services. We don’t provide abortion referrals.

Fair enough. At least they are up-front about it.

But as with First Place Pregnancy Centre, the links page gives them away.

There is this gang of lying liars who, despite rigorous sciency-type studies demonstrating that 'post-abortion syndrome' does NOT exist, continue to shrieeek that it does too.

Then there's another gang of lying liars, who continue to shrieeeek that again, despite those pesky facts, abortion causes breast cancer.

This link appears to offer factual information on abortion, but (sigh) also contains the breast cancer bull-doody.

Then there's this odd link to an organization touting carrying on with a pregnancy 'with negative prenatal diagnosis'.

In short, whatever it calls itself, this gang subjects its clients to lies, fear and guilt. And now it's doing it with our money.

Admittedly, not much of our money, but this is a step down the USian road of government-funded 'faith-based initiatives' and we've got to stop it.

CBC: Prognosis Critical

Harvie Andre was one of three partisan panelists on yesterday’s Year End Political Panel on The Current. He was so over-the-top that it was hard to remember points made by others. In fact, Warren Kinsella almost sounded bashful in comparison. I was surprised that they got Peggy Nash on that panel to represent the NDP. That was actually much better than their usual “left” (NDP) stalwart and sometimes Harper cheerleader, Janice McKinnon.

I used to listen to CBC Radio for most of the day and evening (combo of work and cooking) but these days I have a hard time keeping the radio on. Ideas is still top notch as is Eleanor Wachtel's Writers & Company but so many of the other programs that were worthwhile have been diluted, skewed or replaced by crap.

It’s not just the content of programming that has gone downhill. You can hear the cutbacks in almost all aspects of Radio One. There is so much repetitive programming that I have to keep tabs on whether I already heard something on the weekend or on a weekday morning/afternoon/evening. And it seems like they have laid off technical staff because there are far more glitches than ever before. Between news broadcasts mixing up tapes, intros and extros being out of whack, and phone line connection screw-ups — I experienced better quality control on campus/community radio.

As for their TV line-up, shriek! Seriously, how could they axe such great drama as Intelligence and This is Wonderland for the dreck that they now have?

I suspect that their money-maker, Hockey Night in Canada is next to go, or is that already official. Failing to negotiate a renewal of the contract for the theme song was definitely a death knell. TSN doesn't exist on making lucrative offers. That music was CBC's to lose and had little to do with Dolores Claman’s renegotiation demands for the rights to use her iconic music. Even on last night’s As It Happens year end current affairs quiz, none of the panelists (Elizabeth May, Pat Martin and Scott Brison) could hum the contest-winning replacement theme, Canadian Gold. (It reminds me of the theme from Dallas but with a flourish of bag pipes.)

I am convinced that Harper is trying to destroy the CBC from the inside. I also think that Ignatieff will not put up a fight with the proposed cuts to the CBC. What the hell would he know about the CBC or what it means to many of us when he has spent so much of his time outside this country! He probably will think of it as nothing more than an archaic nation building tool.

Thanks to decades of insufficient funding and government pressure to compete against media giants, what was once an institution started by a visionary leader is now stacked with executives who think they can hang on to their jobs by helping the CBC transition into something new -- perhaps privatized or member supported.

Public Funding for Fetus Fetishists?

It seems the Ontario Government supports fetus fetishists with public money.

Pregnancy Support Services of the Upper Ottawa Valley is receiving $8,600 to purchase office and computer equipment.

This is to better equip the organization to serve pregnant teens in need of support services in the Upper Ottawa Valley.

Pregnancy Support Services does not appear to have a website (maybe they learned a lesson from First Place Pregnancy Centre in Ottawa), but I found this listing . (bold mine; I also corrected a couple of typos, you're welcome)

Mission Statement: We are a mental health organizationfounded on a Christian medical model who promotes informed choice, with follow up counseling being of uppermost importance, so women and men, can move forward after an unplanned pregnancy, or pregnancy loss, to live healthy positive lives in our community. We also have Post Abortion Recovery Education Groups available for women who are experiencing regret and feelings of loss. We train volunteers to walk with these women, shoulder to shoulder, on this healing journey. I received this training and the ability to train other facilitators in Greenville, South Carolina. Our service encompasses all of the county, and is free and confidential.

Such a center as this is a relatively new idea in this area, but PSS centers are operating through out Ontario, and other parts of Canada and the United States, for over 30 years.Check them out at www.capss.com and www.care-net.org you will see a picture of me for our center. WOW ! exciting huh!!!

We do not receive government funding and therefore we depend on the generosity of the community, to commit to donating time as volunteers. If this something that interests you contact us to enrole in out 21hour training. This training is open to the public as a personal interest course. this training is valuable and can be used in any crisis situation. Give us a call or visit the center, on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 12-4 PM, and Thursday evening till 6 pm.

Woo-eee. See all that zygote zealot code-speak?

Sound to me like one of those Crisis Pregnancy Centers, which in the US have been determined to offer 87% lies.

(Here are the links if you want to check out Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services and Care Net.)

Mental health organization? Since when is pregnancy a 'mental health' issue? According to fetus fetishists, it's only after one has an abortion that one goes totally bonkers.

Christian medical model? WTF is that?

Informed choice? Informed by lying bullshit like abortion causes breast cancer and inevitable mental problems?

Post Abortion Recovery Education Groups? OK, that completely outs this outfit.

It is a Crisis Pregnancy Centre.

Funded by The Trillium Foundation, the arm of the government that doles out some of the profits from the government-run numbers racket to 'community groups'.

Here is its contact info:
1.800.263.2887
416.963.4927
TTY: 416.963.7905
Fax: 416.963.8781
trillium@trilliumfoundation.org

I am going to write to the foundation to ask about this grant. I'll let you know what happens next.

Rod Bruinooge Is Brilliant. No. Really.

As if we needed any more reasons to demonstrate why we emphatically do NOT need to debate the forced-pregnancy gang. . .

They are maroons. Dig this from the Ottawa Citizen:

In Canada, he explained, there are many more legal obstacles to selling your kidneys than there are to killing your unborn child. So, he said, "The bottom line is that people like myself are not going to stop until, at the very least, unborn children have more value than a Canadian kidney."

It's a brilliant line. We wish we'd thought of it ourselves.

h/t to Mike in the comments here.

Does Kay remember the fear of getting pustules on his willy?

There doesn't really seem to be any other rational explanation for Jonathan's bizarre foray into self-righteous moralizing.

Did he suffer great personal trauma in high school when his phys. ed. teacher showed the boys a slide show of photographs of male genitalia that displayed symptoms of advanced sexually transmitted diseases? Did it permanently affect his sex life? Is he now bitter and therefore advocating for a similar approach as a way to justify and enforce female abstinence?

One of the lamentable results of the culture wars is that women have been taught to regard abortion -- a medically profound event that either kills, or pre-empts, a unique, genetically determinate human being -- as if it were merely an act of feminist self-empowerment. Showing a mother an image of her "soon-to-be-dead fetus" will disabuse her of that myth."

uh-oh. It sounds like Jonathan was fed anti-feminist ideology in his mama's milk. That might be the explanation for his holier-than-thou, punitive approach to controlling women's access to medical services.

Be thankful that Kay is only a pissant opinion columnist.

Auld Lang Syne

Auld Lang Syne
written by Beijing York, crossposted from Resettle THIS!

B from Politics ‘n Poetry tagged me in an interesting exercise consisting of writing 19 +1 things about yourself. I ended up writing a list of remarks and insights that were frankly far more personal than I intended.

Perhaps it’s the time of year. This holiday has resonance as a marker of days gone by, and somehow I found myself swept with a myriad of memories of events, observations and feelings that define me.

This is my list:

1. Late in my teens, I discovered that I was born two years prior to my parents being married. That was big given when I was born. I never did discuss it with my mother and I should have.

2. Of my father's four children, I was the only one who consistently loved him despite his faults. That probably didn't help my relationship with my mother.

3. I grew up in a discordant household but one thing that was strong and still influences my brothers and I, was the strong commitment my parents had for equality and social justice.

4. I was an extremely shy kid who spent loads of times living in my dreams.

5. I almost failed kindergarten because my teacher assumed I was immature and unable to communicate in English. My dad wrote a note to her calling her a bigot who never took time to get to know me. He said the problem wasn't my lack of English knowledge but the fact that I didn't like her. To this day, I think that is one of the best things my dad did for me.

6. I got to travel to France and Paris as a kid and even witnessed the running of the bulls in Pamplona. That is one of my most cherished childhood moments.

7. In an almost a dream-like memory, I remember meeting this woman who lived in a shack on the edge of the rail tracks near the back of my home. I remember her as a tragic figure but not much else.

8. I was a pretty straight-laced kid, even throughout high school, but I had this childhood friend who lived in Quebec that I would visit every year. Her life was wild and I felt like I got to experience another life every time I visited. Those visits led to my first french kiss, drag off weed, popping of mescaline and LSD, near intercourse and other experiences. She also taught me how not to fear downhill skiing.

9. I always loved animals and couldn't stand watching any movie that included the death of any living creature. I was probably 8 years old when we adopted our first cat. I nearly went crazy when he disappeared for a week and years later was heart broken when we had to give him away. But I love them all. Not just cats. I remember my dad bringing in a dog during a snow storm. I have no idea what happened next. But I remember him being kept warm in our living room on that very snowy, cold night.

10. I think I had a mini breakdown of sorts at the end of my first year at university. I know I had very dark thoughts but I also had spent two weeks on dexidren doing all nighters studying for my exams. It was a bleak and emotionally self-indulgent period.

11. I was very angry for much of my youth. I didn't like following norms or experiencing lack of freedom. I was basically stubborn but quiet in my rebellion.

12. I moved out of home when I was eighteen. I didn't need to but chose to, to escape my mother mostly. I don't think it ever helped my relationship with her but it did bring my dad and I closer.

13. I think I only discovered wanton freedom in my mid-twenties. And I did so with a vengeance. I have no regrets and had a hell of a good time.

14. During the hey day of my party days, I would meet my future husband but I would never have guessed that I would end up with him. Life is funny that way.

15. Leaving for and living in Japan would prove to be one of the best decisions I ever made in my life. I developed self-esteem through hardship, loneliness, strong friendships and hard work. It was probably the most energetic period of my life.

16. I also got to back pack through Asia for some seven months. It was the most profound experience I had ever had and that is despite the fact that my mother was dying. Don't get me wrong, I cared very much about my mother but had become hardened to her pleas when she insisted she was dying some five years before. I did cut my travels to go home when I heard from my father that it was actually happening.

17. My mother's death had a profound effect on me. I did get to spend time with her in her last three months and it was devastating. Being by her side sooner would not have changed the impact it had on me. We had a failed and painful relationship and it would have taken another ten years to resolve. I miss her terribly and wish she had been around to see how well her children had done. I would have liked to have had the opportunity to talk to her as a woman and not as a girl.

18. I have written and hope to continue to write poetry. I think that I see and describe things differently because English is not my first language and yet my only comfortable language. It's weird how that has worked out. I have a handful of dear friends who have consistently encouraged me and for that I am eternally grateful.

19. I have made short films and I hope to finish a feature film that was first inspired back in 1997. It has been an albatross around my neck. It changed so many times that I almost lost sight of how it could be a meaningful story. But it is and I have to finish it. Plus so many people lent their talent on this project for nothing but a credit that I would never forgive myself not finishing it.

20. I hope to slay all the albatrosses in my life, including the film and settling my father's estate. I look forward to moving beyond them and writing a series of short stories as well as turning my mind to new film projects. I hope all these things are possible.

And with that, I wish you peace, good health, happiness and success in the New Year.

F*ck the Debate!: Part Umpty-One

A small sample of reactions to Rod Bruinooge's idiotic gambit to re-open the so-called debate on abortion.

From the Winnipeg Sun: 'bad idea'.

From the The Star:

To reopen this debate would demonstrate an all-time low in the Harper government's misogynist agenda. They have already set back women's rights by 30 years.

And from the Winnipeg Free Press:

According to a Winnipeg Free Press online poll, as of late Monday afternoon 78 per cent of respondents said the federal government should not reopen the abortion debate, while 21 per cent believed it should. More than 2,600 people took part in the non-scientific poll.

And a selection of emails sent to the Free Press, including this one:

I don't think this qualifies as an issue that MPs get to decide for Canadians. This should have been made clear at election time. I wouldn't have voted for Rod had he mentioned his stand on the issue. This will help me in future elections. I will question the candidate more thoroughly and I will advocate for making MPs accountable on these types of ideological issues. Very disappointed. Rod is out of touch!

Bad idea, all-time low, out of touch. Yup.

h/t for the last link to Beijing York in the comments at UOP

What a Tripp!

From the LA Times Blogs:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol Palin and her boyfriend Levi Johnston are proud new parents of a baby boy, according to People.

His name is Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, says Colleen Jones, Bristol’s grandmother’s sister.

. . .

Just mentioning: This week, Levi mother, Sherry Johnston, was charged with six felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance, described by an Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman as being "Oxycontin."

Her arraignment is set for Jan. 6.

Let the funny remarks begin.

A: Slow News Week

From the Ottawa Citizen:

Harper stiff-arms Tory talk of reopening abortion debate

In the face of dissension within the party, Stephen Harper's Conservative government is reiterating its commitment to not reopen the debate on abortion.

"Throughout his political career, the prime minister has been clear on this issue," said Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for the prime minister. "We will not introduce or support legislation on abortion."

The issue resurfaced Monday when Rod Bruinooge, a Conservative MP for Winnipeg South, published an opinion piece in the National Post arguing why he has "no choice but to advocate for the unborn and seek to have their value restored."

Bruinooge was recently elected chairman of the Parliamentary Pro-Life Caucus, a multi-party caucus that predates the Harper government by many years. Bruinooge could not be reached for comment.

Conservative officials were quick to denounce any suggestion that the government will reopen the debate on abortion, but the issue is likely not closed.

So. I guess we have our answer: Slow news week.