Anti-Choice's Desperation to Avoid Responsibility

Nah, fetus freaks aren't desperate to avoid the stink of pro-life terrorism atall atall.

In the Fetal Gore Porn Guy's second kick at the no-connection-between-violent-anti-choice-imagery-and-language-and-Colorado-Planned-Parenthood-murders can, there is this jaw-dropper.

The pro-abortion worldview is one based on the very simple premise that violence—the physical destruction of a human being developing in the womb—is the answer to virtually every imaginable situation.

Ah, yeah. It's pro-choice who thinks violence* is the answer to everything. After all, it's us pro-choicers who murder, assault, fire-bomb, send death threats, post "wanted" posters, harass people outside medical clinics. . .

Wait. No. That would be the anti-abortion gang.

After the Colorado rampage, Bryn Greenwood, who goes by @clinicescort on Twitter, devoted her timeline to the various acts of terrorism she experienced as a clinic worker. Here it is in Storified form.

If you have the stomach for it, read the whole thing, but here's the nub.

The goal was to make us afraid to come to work, to make us quit, to make us close the clinic. That's terrorism. That's how terrorism works.

— Bryn Greenwood (@bryngreenwood) November 30, 2015

In addition to being absolutely incapable of detecting irony, Fetus Freaks also have an extraordinary ability to avoid introspection. Witness this from Fetal Gore Guy's first kick at the no-connection-between etc can.

It’s interesting, isn’t it, how the Left functions. If an Islamic terrorist shoots up a theatre, he is “not a real Muslim” and “not following the peaceful tenets of True Islam.” However, if some strange nutcase opens fire outside a Planned Parenthood and proceeds to murder a pro-life pastor police officer, immediately we are all to assume that this person is definitely a Real Christian, and represents All Christians.

And then he goes on to twist himself into knots trying to show there's no-connection-between etc. All a terrible coincidence.

Well, golly. Today we learned that the Colorado shooter asked for directions to the clinic.

Yep. Pro-life terrorism. This is on them.

And they know it.


* Here's an example of pro-choice violence: assault by chocolate milk. And, gee, it was perpetrated against the Fetal Gore Gang. Have a read of what drove the passer-by over the edge from the Fetal Gore Gang itself.

White Male Pro-Life Terrorism

Anybody who has watched a single episode of "Criminal Minds," or read a news story about serial killers knows the profile. White male between the ages of 18 and 55. Childhood bed-wetter. Criminal escalation through animal torture, arson, increasing violence against women. Then, murder.

Now a profile of the Prolife Terrorist is emerging.

White male between 18 and 55? Check.

Bed wetter? Jury's out.

Animal abuser? Check.

Violence against women? Check.

New wrinkle: Vandalism against abortion clinics? Check. Both Dr George Tiller's murderer, Scott Roeder, and the recent Colorado Planned Parenthood murderer, Robert Dear, glued locks shut on women's clinics.

Here's a thought-provoking article about "white male terrorism", which, while long on white entitlement and rage, is rather short on the "male" part.

Another based on court documents submitted by an ex-partner of Dear's is rather more forthcoming about the "male rage," misogyny, and religion parts.

By January 1993, she had had enough. In a sworn affidavit as part of her divorce case, Ms. Micheau [the ex] described Mr. Dear as a serial philanderer and a problem gambler, a man who kicked her, beat her head against the floor and fathered two children with other women while they were together. He found excuses for his transgressions, she said, in his idiosyncratic views on Christian eschatology and the nature of salvation.

“He claims to be a Christian and is extremely evangelistic, but does not follow the Bible in his actions,” Ms. Micheau said in the court document. “He says that as long as he believes he will be saved, he can do whatever he pleases. He is obsessed with the world coming to an end.”

In short, these are men motivated by rage and religion.

And oddly, or not, both the rage and the religion are focussed on women.

So, not surprisingly, but critically, they are finally mobilized by the relentless, violent, misogynist rhetoric from right-wing nutbars, who in the United States are terrifyingly mainstream, represented by Fox News and every Republican presidential candidate, perhaps most notably Carly Fiorina, who not only clings to her lies about the discredited Planned Parenthood videos, but who is now attacking the "left" for suggesting she played a role in the Colorado massacre.

Also among the terrorism enablers and mobilizers are every anti-choice individual and organization that repeats the hateful lies that demonize abortion providers and the people who need them.

And now this kind of terrorism has a name: stochastic terrorism*. (This piece is from 2011, but the term is cropping up again now in light of the most recent example in Colorado.)

Stochastic terrorism is the use of mass communications to incite random actors to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable. In short, remote-control murder by lone wolf.

Here is Valerie Tarico on the Colorado murders.

The formula is perversely brilliant:
1. A public figure with access to the airwaves or pulpit demonizes a person or group of persons.
2. With repetition, the targeted person or group is gradually dehumanized, depicted as loathsome and dangerous— arousing a combustible combination of fear and moral disgust.
3. Violent images and metaphors, jokes about violence, analogies to past “purges” against reviled groups, use of righteous religious language — all of these typically stop just short of an explicit call to arms.
4. When violence erupts, the public figures who have incited the violence condemn it — claiming no one could possibly have foreseen the “tragedy.”

Use of terms like "Nazi," "genocide," "holocaust," and "slavery" abounds, in addition to the usual "killing," "murder," and "dismemberment."

Here's the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform's (yep, that's the name, though I call them the Fetal Gore Porn Gang) "Genocide Awareness Project", a gory duplicitous display trucked around to university and college campuses, as "a powerful way to compel thought and dialogue."

Its spokesthingy, Jonathan van Maren, wrote a beaut of a piece at LieShite, denying any responsibility on the "pro-life movement's" part, while simultaneously demonstrating how stochastic terrorism works.

Joyce Arthur, of Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, gives his brain-fart a thorough fisking here.

Sample:

“We will not allow Planned Parenthood and the abortion movement to climb atop a ‘moral high ground’ created from the chopped-up body parts of human beings they have dismembered…”

You’re inciting violence, right there. Also, please stop erasing women and the fact that they need abortion care, which is why abortion providers are there, to protect women’s lives.

I share this blogger's question: Why aren't the inciters of crime -- the radicalizing mobilizers -- prosecuted?

Or as is said in another context: Let's shut down their churches, dismantle their funding networks, block their websites, arrest the ringleaders, and discredit their parrots and followers.

White male prolife terrorism. It's real and way more likely -- seven times more likely -- to kill us than any other religious fundamentalist terrorism.

[Reality note: I said much of this about Bill O'Reilly after he successfully incited the assassination of Dr Tiller. So.]




* Of course, in Canada, we had another recent and vivid display of stochastic terrorism. The mindless, relentless repetition of "jihadi terrorists" hiding behind niqabs at citizenship ceremonies backfired spectacularly on the loathesome Conservatives, but resulted in some real violence and terror for Muslim Canadians.

Abortion: Once and For All

My entire blogging career -- if you can call something that doesn't pay a "career" -- has been conducted during the Dark Ages.

It started back at Birth Pangs, now sadly gone but snippets have been saved at the WayBack Machine (hours of fun!). Birth Pangs was focussed on reproductive rights just about exclusively.

We created DJ! in 2009. Our birthday was yesterday.

With DJ! we spread our focus, but I -- and deBeauxOs to a lesser extent -- stayed on the repro rights beat.

I've been thinking about what I want to do now that the Dark Ages are over and we don't have to remain constantly on guard for sneaky fuckery from Conservative misogynist nutbars.

I've decided to go on the offensive.

According to the fetus freaks, we now have the most "pro-abortion" PM EVAH! Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) reckons the anti-choice brigade in the House of Commons has been halved, from 38% to 18% and ALL of them are in minority opposition.

The Liberals ran on some pretty big promises to women, specifically on abortion access.

I propose we not only hold the government to those promises but push for more.

Here is ARCC's list of demands.
• Enforce Canada Health Act against NB and PEI – i.e., arbitrate to resolve access/funding issues, and if the provinces still don’t comply, withhold federal transfer payments.
• To reduce abortion, fully fund most contraception through Medicare (the Pill, IUDs, Depo, emergency contraception, etc.).
• Increase number of hospitals that provide abortions outside major cities.
• Increase medical school training in abortion; provide continuing education in abortion techniques to existing doctors.
• Incentivize and support doctors to provide abortions in smaller communities.
• Prohibit so-called “conscientious objection” in reproductive healthcare, or at least require referrals and discipline doctors who disobey.
• Screen out anti-choice medical students before they enter the Family Planning program or Obstetrics/Gynecology specialty (inability to fulfill job requirements should make them ineligible).

To which I would add:
• Require comprehensive sex ed, including consent and gay and trans rights, in every publicly funded school.
• Regulate and license so-called Crisis Pregnancy Centres to ensure they are telling the truth and treating "clients" respectfully and responsibly. Shut them down if they don't.
• Create a media climate in which any reporter who goes to a fetus freak for a "balancing" comment on a proposal that should be judged on its own merits gets laughed out of the room.
• Crowdfund as necessary to bring suit against organizations and pundits that tell outrageous lies about sexual health and reproductive law.

Of course there are other important things on the feminist agenda that we will continue to work on, like violence against women, child care, equal pay, decriminalizing sex work, and so on.

But I think we have a historic opportunity to get this one done. Once and for all.

Canada is a pro-choice country. We have the chance to move our institutions, media, and culture to the point of no return. Where it will become simply unthinkable for anyone to question a woman's right to make her own decisions on her own life.

We can discredit, delegitimate, disrupt, and demoralize the anti-choicers so that only the most insane of them think it's worth their time to continue.

We can do this. And serve as a beacon of compassion and sanity to the world.

Olympic Cheating? Not us, mate.

Now that the dust has settled, we get a glimpse (courtesy of CP's Paola Loriggio) of what was going on in Mayor Dad's office over the limp musings on an Olympic bid after the Pan-Am track-meet.

Toronto officials saw public resistance as the main threat to a possible Olympic bid and worried holding a referendum on the issue would “allow critics to overstate and inflate opposition” to hosting the 2024 Games, documents reveal.

Emails and briefing materials written by Toronto Mayor John Tory’s staff, obtained by The Canadian Press through access-to-information laws, suggest a lack of public and government support were seen as the “greatest risks” to a Toronto pitch.

No opposition groups are mentioned in that story but I am proud to have been part of NoTO2024 and it's gratifying to think we may have had a small effect on Tory's long-drawn-out but finally sane answer.

I was prepared to be quietly pleased until someone posted a link to GamesBids's spin on the story.

The author and website owner, Robert Livingstone (more about that in a minute), did mention us by name.

As the bid decision loomed, vocal opposition with social-media savvy emerged including the loosely organized NoTO2024 group that mimicked the strategies of No Boston Olympics.  The latter successfully cast enough doubt about a Boston 2024 Olympic bid during the previous months that the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) eventually parted ways with the Massachusetts group and moved forward with Los Angeles instead.

But the Toronto opposition often relied on erroneous and unsupported outdated “facts”, and in some cases inflammatory Website comments that bordered on libel, to try to get their opinions heard.

Ooooh. "Bordered on libel"?????

He quotes from the NoTO2024 website:

“Myth 7: The IOC is reformed
Nope – it’s still the same old cabal of unelected and often corrupt failed politicians, super-wealthy princes and the odd despot. They still demand five-star service, right from fruit in their hotel suites to private lanes on the highway. Millions of our tax dollars are poised to go directly (or rather, extremely indirectly) into their pockets.”

I personally sourced and documented every -- yes, somewhat snarkily presented -- fact in that quote.

Where, exactly, is the libel-bordering there, Mr. Livingstone?

I would have let that go too. Some kind of sour grapes or something at work there, poor guy, but here's the last paragraph.

It seems the citizens of Toronto and Canada were cheated out of a fair Olympics debate. It’s up to the IOC to continue to work on improving its messaging and the Olympic brand so that more informed discussions can happen in the future.

"Cheated out of a fair Olympics debate."

When the standard line from Olympics boosters and officials to ordinary residents is "don't worry your purty little heads about details," NoTO2024 was the ONLY citizen group trying to put some real facts in front of Torontonians and Canadians.

But hey, it's not like GamesBids had anything to gain from a Toronto bid (the author is based in Toronto, by the way). Have a look at its About page.

Our membership includes the world media, members of bid city committees around the world, IOC officials and key stakeholders in the process as well as Olympic fans, businesses and athletes. You can join too!

Please explore GamesBids.com and send us a note to tell us what you want to see.

Ya gotta love it. The Olympic Spirit consists of telling people what they want to see/know.

And "cheating" consists of telling some uncomfortable truths.

And let's not forget that spot of bother Canadian Olympic Committee macho-honcho, Marcel Aubut, found himself in shortly afterwards.



Previous DAMMIT JANET! coverage of NoTO2024.

Fixing Canada, Part I: 24 Sussex Drive

The new Prime Minister's mother, Margaret, told CBC news that the PM will not be moving into the notoriously decrepit and outrageously expensive to maintain official residence at 24 Sussex Drive. (Kady O'Malley, though, says no decision has been taken.)

Since we Canadians own the building, managed by the National Capital Commission (NCC), it has been irksome, to say the least, that former PM (ooh, that is sooo nice to type) was being an an asshole about facilitating needed repairs by moving out. (Bold mine.)

Stephen Harper is at odds with the Crown corporation that manages the prime minister’s official residence, saying there are no plans to renovate 24 Sussex Drive even as the National Capital Commission asserts anew the need for more than $10-million in repairs deemed “urgent” four years ago.
…
Mr. Harper’s office at the time said the prime minister would not vacate the property between then and the next election.

The NCC has a budget for this sort of thing.

But noooo. Wags suggest that Harper was afraid "we the landlords people" would change the locks on the building the second he vacated.

Well, now he has been booted out by his landlords.

On Twitter this morning, I suggested that we raze the sucker and hold a competition among Canadian architects to build something new and snazzy. The building is not architecturally important and, even though designated a National Heritage Site, is really not very historically important, serving as official residence since only 1951.

Acknowledging that this is not high on the long, long list of immediate priorities to fix Canada, I still think it would be fun, just for the RWNJ reaction to Trudeau taking it down.

Also, I love the symbolism of razing the house Harper wouldn't move out of.

Cooler heads prevailed and @CodieneC had a excellent idea.

@fernhilldammit @phunphunphun I'd make a deal with Holmes. Canada pays for materials - Mike gets a show, what a season that would be :-p

— Cindy (@CodieneC) October 23, 2015

Holmes is, of course, Mike Holmes, ace renovator and telly star.

And what an educational show it would be! Invite historians to tell stories of parties, negotiations, shenanigans. Architectural historians to discuss features of the building and antiques experts to talk about furniture and what-not.

A private-public partnership we could get behind. HGTV gets ad revenue, NCC gets the work done in a timely fashion, Canadians get edumacated.

Win-win!

Somebody pitch this to Holmes and HGTV. Or start a petition.

Is Our Pro-Lifers Losing? Part II: The "Grassroots" Reaction

First, the bloggers: SUZY ALL-CAPS has been quiet for quite a while. SHE says she's rethinking what SHE wants to do with her blog. Focus on the Family (Canada branch) and Dominionist We Need a Law (Like a Hole in the Head) haven't got their shit together yet, though head Dominionist Mike Schouten makes a reassuring guest video appearance at the amateur statistician's blog.

LieShite, however, is going nuts. There are at least four articles on the evil that is Justin Trudeau and what to expect from our new majority CULTURE OF DEATH government.

This one is titled "Justin Trudeau: ‘bad news' – the evidence."

“Like his father, Justin Trudeau is a left-wing ideologue who wants to remake Canada in his own radical image,” said [Paul] Tuns [editor of Catholic rag "The Interim"], who recently published “The Dauphin: The Truth About Justin Trudeau.”

The Liberal leader will try “to foist upon the country social change that will include expanded abortion, permissive euthanasia, easy access to drugs, and other departures from moral sanity and our cultural tradition, all under the guise of promoting Canadian values and the Charter of Rights,” Tuns predicts.

Moreover, “he’s the most pro-abortion politician I’ve every seen.”

He'll also put a brothel in every Starbuck$.

The article contains the de rigueur photo of papa Pierre with "his friend dictator Fidel Castro."

It garnered only five comments.

Another article though, titled "Pro-lifers lament Justin Trudeau's Liberal sweep" has 41 comments.

A sampling:

I am not pro- or anti- Harper (mostly because I don't have enough information to form any opinion). Many people I know didn't even vote "for" Trudeau, but "against" Harper. They hate Harper with passion, but if you ask them why, they can't really form an answer.

Not providing legal protection for the unborn by Stephen Harper has lost him the election.....God will NOT bless a man or a country that has the blood of so many innocents on its hands-----

Just like George W. Bush, John Harper did poorly for the country, and made conservatives their own worst enemy.

And the one that inspired my blogpost title:

The procentage of people voting for Conservatives in this elections indicate the sad truth about how many Canadians still have brains and is able to use it. Sad, very sad

Continuing DJ's tradition of selfless service to our readers, I spent 15 minutes I'll never get back listening to a "round table" sponsored by Dominionist Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA).

The participants, including our pal Mike Schouten, are pretty discouraged. Schouten points out that many anti-choicers were losers -- hell, we coulda told him that -- but finds a silver lining in that fetus freak CONs who did get elected will no longer be "muzzled" by that anti-Christ John Harper.

They were also disappointed that medically assisted suicide was not more of a campaign issue and one of them (they were all men, by the way) said that there was "too much" talking about economic issues like taking from the rich and giving to the pesky poor.

The moderator asked if they had any friends left and a few old names were reeled off, plus a new special friend, Arnold Viersen for Peace River-Westlock, who is "the former treasurer of the Barrhead/Neerlandia chapter of the Association of Reformed Political Action."

(I post the pic from the article, mainly because the caption notes that the photo was "supplied," i.e. approved by the candidate, presumably. Doesn't he look like the archetype fetus fetishist?)

Near the end, participants are asked to sum up. Or to quote the questioner: "Where is God going with this?"

They seem to agree that Canadians made a HUGE mistake and will regret it. We Canadians are sadly misguided and mistaken. We are really much more conservative than we realize, apparently. God is gonna smite us for that. (OK, I made that last bit up.)

They also agree they've got their work cut out for them.

And no doubt, many, many more fundraising opportunities in SHRIEEEKING about that Communist, Homo-Enabling, Prostitute-Loving, Death-Cult Leader Trudeau.

We look forward to four or five fun years ahead.

UPDATE (Oct. 22/15): Fetus freaks lick their wounds and helpfully identify the new anti-choicers in the House.


Part I: Is Our Pro-Lifers Losing?

Is Our Pro-Lifers Losing?* Part I: The New Government

First, the happy dance. Press Progress reports on 12 "star" Cons who will no longer be with us. Its list contains several cabinet ministers who went down to defeat, as well as Numero Uno MP Fetus Freak, Stephen Woodworth.

Of other prominent CON dinosaurs: Vellacott and Benoit didn't run;
in addition to Woodworth, Lizon also lost; and Warawa and Trost are baaaack.

Also back are the "grandfathered-in" (appropriate term, yes?), but now supposedly muzzled Liberals for Life: Kevin Lamoureux, Lawrence MacAuley, John McKay, Francis Scarpallegia, and Borys Wrzesnewskyj.

Both the anti-choice Lib and NDP candidates I wrote about here lost too.

There are, of course, many unknowns among the new CONs. Macleans put out a nifty graphic you can sort by various criteria such as age, gender, region, and incumbent/rookie status. By my count, there are 33 CPC rookies.

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada has issued new estimates of anti-choice MPs. They figure we're down to 18% of the new House compared to 36% of the previous gang.

So, pro-choice upshot of Election 2015: we can relax a little. Given that the Liberals got a majority and the newly explicit stand of the party is pro-choice, it's unlikely the government will introduce any sneaky new measures or even tolerate private member's bills or motions from its own back benches.

The NDP won't either, so we'll be keeping an eye on the usual CON suspects, while assessing the new goobers.

Trudeau promised many things on the campaign. We'll be watching for abortion funding to be returned to Canada's foreign aid programs and for the scoff-law provinces of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick to be brought to heel.

More thoughts on his other promises to come.

* Title's origin will be revealed in Part II.

UPDATE (Oct. 22/15): LieShite identifies new fetus freak MPs for us.

Anti-abortion Incrementalism and Death Threats

Why have I not heard of Prairie Dog before? I was alerted to it by a tweet from the astroturf gang Focus on the Family (Canada branch plant). (But more on that in a minute.)

Kelly Malone attended a LifeTour event in Regina and reported on it under the title "Slippery Slopes."

This tour is the work of the Dominionist "We Need a Law" gang -- they of the underground gas line marker displays -- fronted by our old pal Mike Schouten.

Malone outlines the gang's "sneaky" strategy, aka incrementalism.

Rather than fighting for a “perfect law” that would ban all abortions, Schouten outlines three laws he thinks could realistically be passed: first, a ban on late-term abortions (which the presentation didn’t mention are uncommon and only performed when the woman’s life is at risk). Second: a law against sex-selective abortions.

And last but not least? A law for the so-called “pre-born” victims of crime that, conveniently, would enshrine fetal “rights” in law.

Here at DJ! we've written tons on the last two -- not much on the first, because as noted, it doesn't float Canadian boats as it does USian ones. For example, on sex-selective abortion and on "pre-born" victims of crime, aka the failed Bill C-484, and its newer incarnation, Molly's Law.

But back to Focus on the Family. In a blogpost titled "Smart", Mrozek links to the Prairie Dog post and calls it "a fair pro-choice look at a pro-life event." Then she quotes and lauds the first comment.

Hi Prairie Dog! Thanks for a well written article. I’m wondering what were the questionable scientific facts presented at this particular talk? Were you able to either confirm or deny them?

She neglects to remark on the other five (well, four if you discount the repeat) usual hectoring comments from fetus fetishists.

I too linked to Prairie Dog this morning and The Shocker focussed on one of the other more usual comments.

@fernhilldammit "there isn't a pro lifer who wants to see women die" um, there are a lot, the deaths are celebrated on creepy websites

— The Shocker (@fortyfs) October 16, 2015

We who watch the zygote zealots -- precisely because they are sneaky -- know this.

LieShite has many many articles about "heroic" women who declined abortion even in the face of life-threatening illness in order to serve Gawd and produce another orphan. Because, you see, in the fetus fetishist universe, abortion is NEVER necessary to save the life of the incubator woman.

Also, at LieShite, and no doubt other even creepier sites, there are regular celebrations -- really, there is no other word for it -- when ambulances are called to abortion clinics. This is from a search on the site for "ambulance."

The recent #ShoutYourAbortion campaign on Twitter proved it again. Women who participated were variously vilified and frequently threatened with death.

Here's a funny take on those "pro-life" reactions.

"Pro-lifers" frequently wish death on women who abort and people who support their right to do so. That they really think they don't is just another example of their quite terrifying delusion.

Campaign 2015: New Twist on "No Country for Old White Men"

It's almost over, folks. The longest, and dare I say, dirtiest election campaign in Canadian history will soon be toast.

I'm not going to speculate on the outcome -- I'm barely hanging on to my sanity as it is -- but I thought I should provide a round-up of the campaigns from a prochoice perspective.

We all know that Harper is the worst prime minister ever but he's been particularly awful for women of all sorts, and of course even worse for Muslim, Indigenous, and other minority women. Here's Shit Harper Did's look at his record, titled: "Shush baby! Just look pretty. 17 ways the Conservative government has controlled you like a terrible boyfriend."

The 2011 campaign had its bozo eruptions on the misogynist front, but Harper managed to maintain his tight-lipped "my government will not reopen the abortion debate" mantra.

And the stenographers we laughingly call the mainstream media mostly reported just that.

This time, though, there has been a little more attention paid to the most basic of women's rights, abortion. (Call me old school feminist, but if we don't have control of our reproductive lives, all the pay equity in the world means squat.)

Press Progress published a totally predictable list of 86 CON anti-choice candidates.

All the usual suspects are there with a couple of wee twists.

Blogger Robert Jago has been digging into the online lives of CON candidates and found some interesting stuff. We reported on one of his finds, religious nutbar, antichoice homophobe Toyin Dada.

He also found Saskatchewan's Michael Kram in a literal cover-up of his extremist views, which the CBC ran with.

No MSM was interested in Toyin, though.

Another minor bozo eruption occurred when old comments by Manitoba candidate "Professor Popsicle", Gordon Geisbrecht, made the news. Supposedly a scientist, he equated the number of abortions to "a 9/11 every day."

None of this is surprising, really.

What's new this time, is the explicit statement by Justin Trudeau that the "Liberal" party would no longer tolerate antichoice voting by its old white farts. This caused a stir among the fetus freaks who responded with gore and hyperbole in its No 2 Trudeau mission.

What was more interesting to us was the double-plus good rating given by Campaign Lie to London-Fanshawe Liberal Khalil Ramal from his time as an Ontario MPP.

He apparently promised never to act on his misogynist and homophobic beliefs and that made it A-OK with the "Liberals."

Another poser, though, came from the chest-beatingly prochoice NDP who are also running a anti-abortion, anti-same-sex-marriage candidate, K.M. Shanthikumar.

He too said: "Hahahahaha. Only blowing dog whistles for my peeps" and that made it peachy-keen with the NDP brain trust.

Among the grassroots, in addition to the gore-fest of No 2 Trudeau, the underground gas line marker gang got on their bus for what they styled Life Tour.

These efforts resulted in a couple of local news stories in antediluvian Saskatchewan, here and here.

But overall, abortion has not played much of a role in this election.

WHICH IS AS IT SHOULD BE in a country with a long-established and proud record of upholding women's rights to bodily autonomy.

And while we're pleased that an organization with a bit more reach than the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada or bloggers like us found some time to publish a list of avowed misogynists, we're rather concerned that both PROCHOICE parties, the NDP and the Liberals, are allowing antichoice homophobes to run.

Both candidates, we note, are from visible minority groups and presumably are expected to have some extra clout in those communities.

So, the take-away: the prochoice parties are saying quietly: we don't really expect (targetted) minority groups to assimilate to the law of the land when it comes to women's rights.

Because, as everyfuckingbody on the planet knows -- women's rights are always negotiable.

Or, as we said before, Canada may be "no country for old(stock) white men," but it seems it's fine for New Stock Men.