Octuplets = $2 Million

Well, of course, she would.

THE single mother of octuplets born in California last week is seeking $2m (£1.37m) from media interviews and commercial sponsorship to help pay the cost of raising the children.

Nadya Suleman, 33, plans a career as a television childcare expert after it emerged last week that she already had six children before giving birth on Monday. She now has 14 below the age of eight.

Although still confined to an LA hospital bed, she intends to talk to two influential television hosts this week — media mogul Oprah Winfrey, and Diane Sawyer, who presents Good Morning America.

Her family has told agents she needs cash from deals such as nappy sponsorship — she will get through 250 a week in the next few months — and the agents will gauge public reaction to her story.

I swear, you cannot make this shit up.

And as Canadian Cynic points out: suddenly the fetus fetishists are all A-OK with a single woman having a zillion children.

SUZY Makes a Spelling Mistake

Hee hee. Ur still doin it rong, SUZY.

Over at the hippie's, there was chortling in the comments about the spelling in SUZY's moronic photoshop offering.

I hopped over to her place to chortle at her. She erased my comment and changed the word.

But it's still rong. It is spelled 'bay-beeeeees'.

Dumb ass. And not woman enough to own up to her boo-boos.

UPPITY-DATE: Antonia also grabbed a copy of it before SHE changed it. The toobz never forget. . .

MORE UPPITY-DATE: JJ commented there too and was also deleted. SHE has an update in which she acknowledges that comments were deleted, but SHE characterizes our helpful correction as 'snarky criticisms'. Typical.

AND EVEN MORE FRESH BULLSHIT UPDATE: Now SHE is claiming that Haloscan is on the fritz. Oh yeah? Then how did JJ know I commented? Hmmmmmm? Man, SHE doesn't like to be caught, does SHE?

Fetus Fetishist Fun

Despite the resounding loss of all abortion initiatives in the recent US election, a new legislative season means the fetus fetishists are gearing up again.

LifeShite has a round-up of efforts in Kansas, Texas, and South Dakota. In Kansas and Texas, they're going with the tried-and-traumatic trick of forcing women who want to terminate a pregnancy to view an ultrasound of the inside of their own uteruses.

The sneaky shits legislators in South Dakota have come up with a new wrinkle on an old ploy. Not content with mandatory counselling:

The proposed legislation would require that a doctor performing an abortion in the state be available for a two-hour period on the day before the scheduled abortion for consultation with the patient in the same city where the abortion will be performed. Under the bill, failure to do so would be a Class 1 misdemeanor.

You see, in lots of places in the US, abortion providers are perforce peripatetic. They hold clinics in various cities and various states, travelling widely to offer women care. But in this proposal, the very doctor who is to perform the procedure must be available in person the day before. Not a trained counsellor, the doctor her- or himself. Another burden, another obstacle, another waste of time makes the fetish fetishists moist.

But our friend matttbastard* alerts us to a yet another new one, again targetting the doctors. From Utah:

Under current state law, abortion is allowed only in cases of rape or incest, if the fetus cannot survive outside the womb or is unlikely to survive, or to save the mother’s life or preserve her health. . . . Under House Bill 90, sponsored by Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clinton, physicians who perform illegal abortions could be charged with second-degree felony criminal homicide.

Parental notification, mandatory counselling, mandatory ultrasounds, mandatory waiting periods, fetal homicide laws. Now homicide charges for doctors. On and on it goes.

But, hey, let the fetus fetishists have their fun. For now.

When the Freedom of Choice Act is passed and President Obama signs it into law, all such pissant restrictions will be swept from the books.

Oh my, the shrieeeking that will ensue. We're looking forward to it.

*Lots of good links at mattt's place.

Blob Blogging Whiner

LuLu blogs about the ongoing saga of Blob Blogging Whiner and her obsessive/compulsive fixation on blaming feminism and feminists for everything SHE considers to be the Devil's Work, here: Canadian Cynic: Pardon my sweeping generalization.

Which of course raises the question that if feminists are as evul as SUZIE-ALL-CAPS claims, and feminism is the socio-political equivalent of a volcano, a tsunami and a typhoon combined, the Kali that rocks and shakes Blob Blogging Wingnut's world, why aren't feminists in charge, then?

Soccer Mom Budget

I have nothing against women who can afford to stay home and raise their kids, or those who can follow a successful career outside their home and afford a nanny or other costly daycare. However, they are not the majority of women.

The budget conjured up by Harper and Flaherty, under threat from a potential coalition government, does not address the needs of the most vulnerable, and that includes many Canadian women.

The income tax cuts will mostly help fairly affluent households. Upping the "baby bonus" amounts will not address the need of affordable day care and is just another perk for affluent households. Ditto for tax credits in support of kids' hockey camps and piano lessons. The "cottage deck" initiative does nothing to provide affordable housing for low income, fixed income, under-employed, unemployed and unable to work women across this country. There is also the failure to change Employment Insurance eligibility to provide income relief to many women who work in jobs that make them ineligible or hold onto part-time work that doesn't allow them to access the program.

I didn't expect better from Harper. Nor did I expect him to respect pay equity. You only have to look at the list of resolutions passed at the last Conservative Party convention to recognize how despised women's rights are in his party.

What really burns is to recognize that neither pay equity nor the failure to address the needs of the most vulnerable was not considered a "poison pill" by the official opposition.

Sadly, I was hoping that Ignatieff would prove me wrong and display some courage. Unfortunately, I was wrong. It seems that vulnerability is an abstract concept for this Ivy League "human rights" expert.

Thanks to the Regina Mom, who reminded many of us that Anita Neville is the LPC critic for Status of Women, I fired off this letter:

Dear Ms. Neville,

I live in a riding adjacent to yours so I am not writing as one of your constituents but as a concerned Canadian woman. I am writing to you today since you are the Liberal critic responsible for the status of women.

The budget presented by Harper's Conservative government is a failed attempt at addressing the severe recession we are entering. Mr. Ignatieff seems to recognize this but still insists on supporting it with the proviso of periodic report cards. This is a meaningless gesture that does nothing to protect the most vulnerable, which includes many women across Canada. This budget provides little of no relief for low income, single income, unemployed and working women.

Those who are fortunate enough to still have jobs need meaningful childcare supports, something former PM Martin recognized but didn't act upon fast enough. Those without jobs or earning low incomes need refundable tax credit mechanisms to supplement household income and not increases in income exemptions and bracketing that fail to provide women with non-taxable incomes little relief. Many of the women who will lose their jobs will not qualify for EI benefits based on the current system. And lose their jobs they will since most women are employed in the retail and services sectors (including health care) and the taxation and economic stimulus measures will not create very many opportunities or protect jobs in these sectors.

But what really galls me is that the Liberals have failed to demand a reversal of the government's attack on pay equity. We have known that this was on the table since Flaherty first presented his economic update in November. Failing to demand that this loathsome and regressive move be struck from the budget is reprehensible. While President Obama moves the US a step forward, PM Harper with support of the official opposition moves Canada two steps backwards.

I beg of you that you vote with your conscience and engage your caucus to re-examine their official position. This is not the time to play petty politics.

Yours respectfully,

Beijing York

Cross-posted at Resettle THIS!

Out-Duggaring the Duggars

More info is coming out about the California woman who gave birth to a litter octuplets earlier this week.

The woman already has six children! And lives with her mother!

Neighbors said she and her six children -- ages 7, 6, 5, 3 and 2-year-old twins -- live there with her mother. Her marital status is unknown.

Her doctors are still not confirming that fertility drugs were involved, but experts quoted in the media say that it is almost a certainty that they were.

Here's my question: WTF is up with a woman who has six children being given fertility drugs?

She must be hankering for an unreality teevee show à la Duggars.

UPPITY-DATE: JJ at Unrepentant Old Hippie has more. It is being reported that the reason the woman is living with her mother is that she has filed for bankruptcy and lost her own home. Good gravy. . .

Bizarre Media Phenoms: The Baby-Bump Watch

We at DJ! are not obsessed with finding ways to bump our website stats. First of all, we don't carry advertisements (YouTubes of X-rated condom commercials don't count). We only write about famous unintended pregnancies when it is relevant to an issue near and dear to us.

So it doesn't surprise us that the latest rumour circulating on the 'net concerns the sighting of a purported baby-bump on the concave surface of Michelle Obama's statuesque and zaftig body.

The best - and only place, in our humble opinion - to read about this non-event would be Wonkette's blogpost. From the combox:

"i saw one piece of so called evidence where she was viewed slightly from the side, and arrow pointed at her thigh declaring it a baby bump. now i know a lot of white folks these days aren’t used to seeing those on a woman, but no her thigh is not a baby about to pop out of her."

Exactly.

21 Years of Lawlessness!

From Vicki Saporta, president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation, writing in the Star.

Today marks the 21st anniversary of R. v. Morgentaler, the Supreme Court ruling that decriminalized abortion in Canada. This landmark decision has undoubtedly protected the health and saved the lives of countless women, and was named as one of the most important and influential Charter cases of the last 25 years.

But access remains a problem, she says, particularly in rural Canada, PEI, and especially New Brunswick, Canada's answer to Kansas.

But here's another access problem I wasn't aware of (emphasis mine):

Women not living in their home province or territory also face challenges because abortion is not part of the inter-provincial billing agreement. In fact, abortion is the only time-sensitive and medically necessary procedure excluded from the list of services on the inter-provincial billing agreement.

This policy forces students attending school in another province or women who have recently moved and are in the process of transitioning their health-care benefits to pay the full cost of their abortion care out-of-pocket, or incur additional expenses travelling back to their home province in order to obtain a publicly funded abortion.

Funny, innit? The only time-sensitive and medically necessary procedure NOT included in the agreement happens to be one affecting women only.

I wonder how people would react if, say, prostate cancer surgery were excluded from the inter-provinical billing agreement.

*sigh* We've still got a long way to go, baby.

But still, on this anniversary, we celebrate 21 years of lawlessness in Canada.

Whoever thought it would be easy

to wrangle the Beast Also Known As the fundamentalist rightwing religious special interest lobby in Washington DC is a pie-eyed optimist. From the Feminist Majority Foundation news website:

A provision in the proposed economic stimulus package that would expand family planning coverage under Medicaid has drawn harsh criticism from Republicans and may be removed from the proposed stimulus package as early as today. President Barack Obama has reportedly told congressional Democrats to remove the provision and may offer this move as a concession to congressional Republicans in meetings today.

And ...

Democrats argue the proposal is a smart fit for the plan to infuse Medicaid with $87 billion in federal money to shore up reeling state programs. The proposal could create health care jobs and thus offer the economy a boost, perhaps even faster than infrastructure spending. The non-partisan Congressional Budget office says it is a money-saver in the long-term.

Clearly the only protection against such turn of events has to be this one:

'Culture of Life': Ur Doin It Rong

The Dallas Morning News tips us to a 'Catholic author and "pro-life American"' Sean Michael Winters, writing at a blog of a Jesuit magazine who has seemingly come to a sensible conclusion about the March for Life, the annual anti-abortion bunfest.

It has failed utterly to make a difference in this nation’s abortion policy. So, on the one hand, is it really newsworthy that the pro-life movement is still banging its head against the wall?. . .

That said, there is a different reason why I do not participate in the annual March. I think it probably alienates the very people we should be trying to reach: women facing crisis pregnancies. The rhetoric on the signs tend to equate abortion with murder which may be objectively true but also lacks the empathy with the desperate circumstance of many women that is the necessary precursor to an effective evangelization of the Gospel of Life. And, finally, the March perpetuates the false belief that if Roe were overturned the abortion rate would plummet. In fact, most states would codify Roe. A legal strategy must be replaced by a cultural strategy if we are to make a real dent in the abortion rate in this country.

Oh, and what's that 'cultural strategy'?

*sigh* More Crisis Pregnancy Centres. Thousands more.

There are tens of thousands of parishes in America. Each one of them must become a sympathetic crisis pregnancy center, a place of sanctuary and solidarity for women who find themselves with an unplanned pregnancy and few practical options for raising the child as they would want. The vast array of social services and hospitals that the Church dispenses must be put at the disposal of women in this situation.

A vast array of services, eh? Well, that's something practical at least.

Unlike BLOB BLOGGING WHINER moaning about the lack of fetus fetishist pro-life 'culture'.

[The Democrats in the US] talked amongst themselves. They were creative. They produce art and other cultural products.

We have pro-lifers have no culture.

Bingo, SUZY!

On the other hand, as everyone knows, we on the left have a culture of death and a lot more fun it is too.

Men In Fur

Not to be confused with Mein Fuhrer moments ....

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life at the Vatican, described President Barack Obama’s signing of an executive order allowing U.S. tax dollars to fund pro-abortion organizations beyond the shores of the United States saying it is "the arrogance of someone who believes they are right, in signing a decree which will open the door to abortion and thus to the destruction of human life," as quoted by Italian daily Corriere della Sera on January 24.
The outspoken prelate, who also once denounced what he termed as “racism” on the part of instructors at the Academy, added "What is important is to know how to listen... without locking oneself into ideological visions with the arrogance of a person who, having the power, thinks they can decide on life and death."

Irony is alive and thriving, thanks to the overwhelming duplicity of Roman Catholic dogma-spewing clergy.

Is it evul for this feminazi to wish for PETA to target the Vatican because of all the defenseless ermines who have been needlessly slaughtered for the aggrandizement of the high clergy, including Pope Benny the Rat?

Un grand merci to Let Freedom Rain and Canadian Cynic.

We, on the other hand, proudly raise money for Crisis Pregnancy Centres

What a waste of time and money.

A new program sponsored by the national Knights of Columbus has helped its first pregnancy center obtain an ultrasound machine. The program is meant to provide pregnancy centers with the tools to help women considering an abortion see their baby and choose pro-life alternatives.

The Supreme Office of the Knights of Columbus and the Florida State Council of the Knights of Columbus yesterday donated $44,050 dollars to the Women's Help Center in Jacksonville, Florida, for the purchase of a new 4-D ultrasound machine.

A pricey piece of medical equipment that will serve no useful medical purpose. Instead, images from it will be misrepresented to women to manipulate and scare them out of choosing an abortion.

Glad to see such righteous priorities.

We're an Anti-Abortion Center, Dammit!

The fetus fetishists are using our words again. Somewhere in Iowa, something called 'Choices Medical Clinic' is set to open its doors.

It is described like this:

The anti-abortion center will open in the spring and provide free health care to all women - though notably excluding contraceptives and abortions.

Anti-abortion center? OK.

But don't you dare call it a Crisis Pregnancy Center.

Still, some argue that excluding abortion as an option is misleading and doesn't give women all the information. Nationally, many crisis pregnancy centers have been accused of using deceptive tactics that prevent women from having abortions.

"The tactics that [crisis pregnancy centers] used to do that, unfortunately, are sometimes getting women in under the guise of its being a medical clinic," Thompson [pro-choice person] said.

But Owen [director of new outfit] said Choices Medical Clinic is not a crisis pregnancy center.

"I know some people would put us in the category of a women's crisis center," she said. "But we're different - we are a full-on medical clinic."

You gotta love it. Crisis Pregnancy Centers have such a stink attached that even the smarter fetus fetishists are shying away from the label.

Abortion Concern Troll

You know, I didn't really get the concept of 'concern troll' until I met Gordie. This is his third or fourth kick at this can.

I think ProgBlogs needs to look into this. What think you?

ETA: Gordie takes on Birth Pangs.

ETA 2: Documenting for PB, I find it is his fourth kick.

As promised. . .

Here:

Ungagged!

Several news outlets, including the Grauniad are reporting that Obama will rescind the global gag rule.

They're also reporting that he forbore from doing it yesterday, anniversary of Roe v. Wade and annual fetus fetishist bunfest, out of 'sensitivity'. By contrast, both Bill Clinton and George Bush used the anniversary -- Bill to lift the rule, George to reimpose it again.

I'll update as the shrieeeking builds. :D

Ooops, she's done it again.

Surely not on purpose, to create a media brouhaha around the release of her new CD and the start of her tour to promote the CD. But Britney Spears is making headlines. Again.

The Parents Television Council is warning parents about the Britney Spears song "If U Seek Amy" and urging radio stations not to broadcast it because the nonprofit organization believes it "would violate the broadcast indecency law" if aired between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Saying the title phrase quickly out loud produces a sound akin to spelling out the F-word, said PTC president Tim Winter. "There is no misinterpreting the lyrics to this song, and it's certainly not about a girl named Amy," he said of the track, the third single from Spears' new Jive album, "Circus."

And what is the PTC? It is directed by Brent Bozell:

Founder and President of the Media Research Center, Mr. Bozell runs the largest media watchdog organization in America. Established in 1987, the MRC has made "media bias" a household term, tracking it daily and printing the compiled evidence biweekly in its well-known Notable Quotables, which also releases an annual "Best of NQ" edition selected by a nationwide panel of judges active in the news industry. His most recent book, Weapons of Mass Distortion: The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media, was released in July of 2004. Other MRC books include And That's the Way It Is(n't): A Reference Guide to Media Bias; Pattern of Deception: The Media's Role in the Clinton Presidency; How to Identify, Expose and Correct Liberal Media Bias; and Out of Focus: Network Television and the American Economy.

Right. That's it in a nutshell. By the way, if you check the list of articles recommended, written by members of its advisory board, you'll note that most focus on the evuls of S-E-X. Violence? Not so much. Oh, it seems really cozy with another group that spends a lot of time shrieeekkking about stuff that offend religious fundamentalist rightwingnutz sensibilities - the homophobic, misogynist, no-choice and reactionary organization Focus on the Family.

Some progressives expressed discomfort with the number of times that the "G" word appeared in US president Obama's inaugural speech. Perhaps a strategic use of that word, in order to demonstrate that religious fundamentalist rightwingnutz don't own the monopoly on faith is a savvy thing to do.

As for the song .... sure hope it doesn't affect the future sales of Jamie Lynn Spears' book about parenting, Christian-style-like.

The Shrieeek We Want to Hear

Today is the 36th anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade and the fetus fetishists are taking to the streets of Washington to protest. Again.

But as that link points out, they're not going to get much support from President Obama.

In fact, pro-choice supporters are expecting Obama to mark this anniversary by rescinding the Mexico City Policy, or Global Gag Rule today.

This will be a good thing but what we're really looking forward to is his signing of the Freedom of Choice Act, which will nullify all the pissant little rules, regulations, and restrictions various states have instituted to impede women's reproductive rights.

The shrieeeeking will be thunderous. And delightful to pro-choice ears.

More abortion recriminalizers' propaganda, Down Under

Over at unrepentant old hippie, JJ reminds us of the zygote zealots' rightwingnutz mob mentality, complete with an eloquent photograph. Hyperbole + overwrought visuals = fanaticism.

In the southern hemisphere, a study from Australia - a country that recently decriminalized abortion services - presents a complex portrait of the reasons why women choose to terminate a pregnancy.

Prior to the law's introduction into Parliament, the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) carried out an investigation, which presented three options to Parliament. The first was codification of the existing law, which made it a criminal offence to destroy the life of an unborn child "capable of being born alive," which was said to be any time after 28 weeks gestation. The second option was allowing an abortion to be performed at any stage of a pregnancy, if a woman gives her consent and the medical practitioner considers it ethically appropriate. The third option was the two-tier system which was finally accepted, using 24 weeks as the defining point. According to figures from the VLRC investigation, about 94.6% of abortions in Victoria are carried out before 13 weeks of gestation, 4.7% between 13 and 20 weeks, and less than 1% after 20 weeks. Yet, although only a small number of women need late-term abortions, the ones who do are the most vulnerable: teenagers, victims of sexual assault including incest, sufferers of mental illness, women who have experienced a sudden tragic life circumstance or have discovered a fetal abnormality. .... An all-women task force of leaders from central Victoria's Anglican Church diocese submitted their comments during the VLRC investigation: "In our view, public acceptance of the reality of abortion, including acceptance of the practice among women of diverse religious communities, indicates that a change in the law is timely."

The study audited data recorded over a 12 month period of phone calls from women facing unintended pregnancies and who wanted an abortion. The 5400 calls were received by the Royal Women's Hospital's Pregnancy Advisory Service from women seeking advice between October 2006 and September 2007.

Of about 3000 women who gave a primary reason for wanting an abortion, 23 per cent said they did not want children now, 11 per cent said they were too young, and .4 per cent said their partner was violent or they had been raped. But 16 per cent of callers mentioned violence as a contributing factor in their decision to seek advice, a statistic Dr Rowe said was disturbing. "It does suggest that 'exposure to violence' needs to be included in all health services for women, because it is a common occurrence in the community and it's only just been acknowledged," she said.

Predictably, no-choice abortion recriminalizers gave the findings their own spin, proclaiming that the women were using abortion as a form of birth control. In fact, 29 per cent of the callers in the study had used contraception to prevent pregnancy. Just another day in the no-choice fetus fetishists propaganda factory, cranking out more lies and more shrieeekkks!!!

Who's the terrorist?

Is Izz el-Deen Aboul Aish a terrorist? Is that why his daughters had to die?

Izz el-Deen Aboul Aish, who speaks Hebrew, worked as a gynecologist in an Israeli hospital. Even as the crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel had largely been closed in recent months, he had traveled frequently from one place to the other. But he had remained in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began 21 days ago. He gave frequent interviews to the Israeli media on living conditions in the seaside enclave. He spoke of having tanks around his house and of passing through checkpoints; he told Israelis what it was like to be Palestinian.

Minutes away from a scheduled phone interview on Israeli TV 10 with newscaster Shlomi Eldar, Aboul Aish called Eldar’s cellphone, screaming and weeping in Arabic and Hebrew. The doctor’s home had been struck by a shell:

“Oh God, oh my God, my daughters have been killed. They’ve killed my children. . . . Could somebody please come to us?”

Sitting at his news desk for one of Israel’s main evening news broadcasts, Eldar held his phone up. For three minutes and 26 seconds, Aboul Aish’s wailing was broadcast across the country.

Some more pictures of terrorists from Guerrilla Radio:






































From Da Arab Mcs: Who's the terrorist?

Krispy Kreme Kaves

Not.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts’ Inauguration Day promotion on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, is offering one, free doughnut of a customer’s choice at participating Krispy Kreme locations nationwide. No purchase is necessary. The promotion allows customers to commemorate Inauguration Day by selecting one free doughnut of any variety at local participating stores. On Election Day, November 4, 2008, Krispy Kreme ran a promotion that provided customers with one free star-shaped doughnut at stores nationwide. The Inauguration Day promotion is not about any social or political issue.

Despite deranged imaginations.

SUZY ALLCAPS: 'Abortion is. . . ' (edited to remove childish redirect)

'Vulgar.'

Hm. And we all thought she considered abortion THE WORST THING EVAH!

Nah. 'Vulgar.' Like festooning one's blog with dead-baby pron.



Edited March 10, 2010 to remove SUZY ALLCAPLOCKS' little (sick) joke.

Pro-Abortion Doughnuts!

From the Department of You Couldn't Make This Sh*t Up If You Stayed Up All Night Snorting Weasel Dust: Pro-abortion doughnuts!!!!!

From those wacky people who hallucinated created The Pill Kills campaign:

KRISPY KREME CELEBRATES OBAMA WITH PRO-ABORTION DOUGHNUTS
by Katie Walker
Released January 15, 2009

Washington, DC (15 January 2009) – The following is a statement from American Life League president, Judie Brown.

"The next time you stare down a conveyor belt of slow-moving, hot, sugary glazed donuts at your local Krispy Kreme you just might be supporting President-elect Barack Obama's radical support for abortion on demand – including his sweeping promise to sign the Freedom of Choice Act as soon as he steps in the Oval Office, Jan. 20.

The doughnut giant released the following statement yesterday:

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American's sense of pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of choice to every customer on this historic day, Jan. 20. By doing so, participating Krispy Kreme stores nationwide are making an oath to tasty goodies -- just another reminder of how oh-so-sweet "free" can be.

Just an unfortunate choice of words? For the sake of our Wednesday morning doughnut runs, we hope so. The unfortunate reality of a post Roe v. Wade America is that "choice" is synonymous with abortion access and celebration of 'freedom of choice' is a tacit endorsement of abortion rights on demand.

President-elect Barack Obama promises to be the most virulently pro-abortion president in history. Millions more children will be endangered by his radical abortion agenda.

Celebrating his inauguration with "Freedom of Choice" doughnuts – only two days before the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to decriminalize abortion – is not only extremely tacky, it's disrespectful and insensitive and makes a mockery of a national tragedy.

Hm. No, Judie, what's really deranged 'tacky, disrespectful, and insensitive' is seeing abortion everywhere you look and forgoing any semblance of sanity to hook your nuttiness to a national event.

Really. Do they expect to be taken seriously? Seriously?

Fetus Fetishists: 'We Can Haz Hip-itude'

I am laughing my ass off. Again. In the comments to this post about The Signal Hill/BC Pro-Life, a newish, seemingly 'reasonable' outfit supposedly dedicated to women's health, JJ reveals that it is actually a re-branding of Pro-Life of BC.

But they don't want us to know.

Pro Life BC has undergone a name change, one that may forever change the image and general perception of the pro-life organization.

Only time will tell whether the name Signal Hill has the impact members are hoping for: to break through the obstacles that keep pro-life messages from being heard.

[snip]

Natalie Hudson of Signal Hill said "the name is non-specific and has no direct association with any pro-life-related agenda. It represents an idea of clarity, poise, singular intent, and mission; while at the same time drawing enquiry, and promoting open dialogue with the population."

Terry Williams, chairman of the board, said during the introductory speech that "the main mission of Signal Hill has not changed: we hope to change a culture of death to a culture of life."

The organization hopes that the re-branding will open doors that have formerly been closed. It hopes to eliminate the barriers that arise from preconceived misconceptions so that the message of life can be heard and understood across all levels of society.

Borkowski said their objective is to work with every group and every pro life person to actually get the message to the people who need it the most.

"It's the great undecided that we are trying to change," he said. "They are the friends of strangers who don't quite know where they sit on these issues. After all these years it may sound strange that people haven't made up their minds, and depending on who they are talking with, can sound either sort of pro life or sort of pro-choice."

Signal Hill believes that with a language that is reasonable and "hip," intelligent, and compassionate, they can win the space and help teach others how to get there.

OMFG! Reasonable and 'hip'!

I tell you, these fetus fetishists are a laff-riot.

UPPITY-DATE: In the comments, JJ suggests we refer to this gang as 'The Signal Hill/BC Pro-life' for purposes of truth in googling. ;)

MORE UPPITY-DATE: Go read the Super Sleuth, JJ herself on this. Wot fun!

YET MORE UPPITY-DATE: Canadian Cynic weighs in. :D

Apparently, I'm a propogandist

When it comes to the so-called abortion debate, I don't know which sort of opponent is more irritating -- the debaters or the authoritarians. Here, we have a combination of both, and a supposed progressive to boot.

The debaters want to get, as CC puts it, 'nuancy': when does life begin? what role does the state have? whose rights are they anyway?

The authoritarians are shalled and appocked that Canada has *gasp* NO LAW on abortion. Butbutbut all other countries have laws on what women can do with their own bodies. What kind of pissant country doesn't have a law on what women can do with their own bodies?

What's really rich is that Gordie the Progressive accuses us of propoganda [sic and snerk]. Check out The Signal Hill's links page, Gordie. While the outfit professes neutrality, it links to all the usual lying liars.

By the way, here is a progressive who does get it.

Pregnancy can be fatal

Medical research has in recent years, developed more studies about the effects of pregnancy on the growth of malignant tumours. There are concerns that the hormone enriched physiological environment produced during pregnancy - which stimulates the growth of blastocytes (zygote cells) - can also encourage the proliferation of cancerous cells already present in a woman's body.

Medical case histories document 'aggressive' forms of cancer diagnosed during a woman's pregnancy. The dilemma that some pregnant women face is the following: radiation therapy, chemotherapy and in some cases, surgery may compromise the pregnancy. For some women who are pregnant because of a heartfelt decision and commitment, a diagnosis of breast cancer for example, presents them with a heart-wrenching choice.

Some survive their pregnancy, give birth and successfully battle against cancer. Some are not as lucky. After my sister died of ovarian cancer, I read Ruth Picardie - Before I Say Goodbye.

Today I read about 41 year-old Jayne Soliman who died as a result of an undiagnosed brain tumour that grew - aggressively - during her pregnancy and triggered a fatal hemorrhage. Though Soliman was clinically dead, a machine kept her heart beating and her blood pumping so that her fetus could be the beneficiary of steroids that were injected into her body. This procedure was done to artificially stimulate fetal lung development in the 48 hours before a Caesarian was practiced to remove the fragile and premature Aya Jayne from the dead woman's uterus.

One can only imagine the dilemma facing the rabid fundamentalist christian fetus fetishists and bigots, unsure whether to claim this tragedy as a triumph for their ideological zealotry, or to shrieeekkk! because Aya Jayne's father is Mahmoud Soliman. Also,

... More than 300 mourners attended Ms Soliman's funeral last weekend, which was held at the Jamia mosque ....

Yes, that should elicit some shrieeekkks and grunts from the neanderthals over at small dead brains.

Go. Read.

You're welcome.

Dear Signal Hill/BC Pro-Life*: Is this the best you can do?

I'm laughing my ass off. In the comments to this post, an Anonymous commenter (as deBeauxOs sleuthed out, probably a Signal Hiller checking out what kind of bang they're getting for their news-wire buck) directs us to its polls page. (Last night, there was also a link to a PowerPoint slide show. I downloaded it, but it was corrupted and would not open. Now, it's gone.)

I hit the link called 'Polling Tables' and downloaded a legit-looking spreadsheet from Angus Reid.

It is dated August 22/24, 2008.

Here's what I think: It took the geniuses at Signal Hill four and a half months to figure out how to spin it.

And here's why I'm laughing. The best they could do was shrieeeeek about how few people know that there is shrieeeeek! NO TIME LIMIT ON ABORTION!!!

Q: As far as you know, when can an abortion be performed in Canada?

61% replied 'only in the first 3 months'. 11% went for 'only in the first 6 months' and a measly 8% knew that an abortion can be performed any time up to 9 months gestation. (What I find fascinating is that 19% answered 'not sure'.)

But look at the responses to other agree/disagree statements:

Abortion is a private matter between a woman and her doctor: 81% agree

I would never personally choose abortion, but I do not want to force my moral views on others: 63% agree

Abortion takes a human life and should therefore never be sanctioned except if the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life: 67% disagree

I personally believe having an abortion is wrong: 64% disagree

And what were they thinking with these two?

The government should dictate how many children a woman can have: 93% disagree

The government should limit the number of abortions a woman can have in her lifetime: 56% disagree

The closest they got to a 'right' answer was on the matter of funding, and even here, a majority disagreed.

I consider abortion an elective medical procedure —- taxpayers should not pay for abortions: 47% agree, 49% disagree

So, here's how it went: The Signal Hill commissioned and paid for a poll. They got results they did not like. (Results, in fact, that demonstrate yet again that Canada is a pro-choice country.) They worry at the numbers for FOUR AND A HALF MONTHS and the best they can do is try to spin it like this: A previous poll showed a majority of Canadians are OK with the status quo. Our poll shows that a MASSIVE majority of Canadians don't know what the status quo actually is. Therefore. . . um, er, shrieeeeeek!!!

Then they write a press release and pay again to have it run at CNW Group.

The plain and simple fact is Canadians are cool with the status quo because they know that women are mostly sensible and make important decisions about continuing a pregnancy in a careful and timely way. Canadians know that late-term abortions are performed only if there is a serious risk to the woman's health or if the fetus is a no-hoper.

But does anyone think the fetus fetishists will get the message and STFU?

Nah, me either.

UPPITY-DATE: In the comments here JJ suggests we refer to this gang of sneaky liars as The Signal Hill/BC Pro-life.

Anonymous Comment from a Federal Civil Servant

Anonymous comments can now be submitted at DAMMIT JANET! though they are also moderated. This setting was modified in order to allow those who don't have Google accounts to leave comments.

This morning, at 9:24 AM, someone posted from this location - Government of Canada 11 Laurier Street Hull QC - this anonymous comment:

"As biased as this article may be,it's only to be expected from left-wing leaning supporters, who feel the need to use the same propoganda that they condemn others for. You may disagree with a view, and ultimately not support it - but the reality is that many "non-right wing" and "non-Christian" causes are supported by taxpayer funded initatives, yet I don't see you bashing them? It's this intolerance that is furthering the great social divide in Canada, one that is further taking away from Canada's identity as a nation that embraces and supports diversity of thought, culture and belief syste,." (sic)

It was a response to fern hill's blog post: Public Funding for Fetus Fetishists? It would seem that this civil servant, posting from her or his work station, does not agree with the view of separating Church from State. That's an opinion he or she has a right to think, but to post it from a federal government computer? One also wonders how that civil servant, working in the province of Québec, feels about the hateful anti-Québec propaganda Harper supporters spread as well as the western separatism feelings their December campaign fed?

Isn't that an ethical no-no that rightwing RepubliCons keep harping and shrieeekkking about? Oh wait. Only when it's not their own rightwing RepubliCon supporters who do it.

Fetus Fetishists: 'Canucks MASSIVELY Stoopid'

The fetus fetishists are getting 2009 off to a roaring start. Remember the MASSIVE poll of last year? Now they're shrieeeeking that a 'vast majority' of Canadians are pig-stupid.

This outfit, which appears to be rather new, seems to have commissioned a poll and put out a press release on it via CNW Group, which used to be Canada News Wire, you know, a wire agency that one pays to run one's press releases. (Of course, LifeShite went for it and, a little more surprisingly, the stenographers at the Glob did too.)

An Angus Reid poll has found that a vast majority of Canadians do not know, under the country's current legal situation that abortion is permitted at any time from conception up to the moment of birth.

The poll results have been made public on the heels of a late-December declaration by Dimitri Soudas, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, that the Conservative government has no intention of reopening the abortion debate in Canada.

The Angus Reid poll found that 92 percent of the respondents did not know abortion was available to a woman throughout the full nine months of gestation.

It goes on to refer to this Angus Reid poll from last summer that found a majority of Canadians are fine with the status quo.

Well, shrieeeeek! Dumb-fuck Canadians don't know what the status quo is!!!

The press release gives no links, no wording for the question(s), no dates, no number of respondents, no statistical error. We are really looking forward to seeing all that facty stuff.

Meanwhile, what the heck is The Signal Hill?

From the first link up there:

Welcome to Signal Hill - a vibrant new voice advocating for women, children and the family. Signal Hill's mission is to deliver clear and supportive education on life issues to all people, helping them make informed and life-affirming decisions. Our resources reflect the best and latest academic research, and are non-judgmental, compassionate and understanding. We welcome people of all backgrounds and convictions.

Doesn't that sound nice?

Again, their links give them away. Yup, links to all those known lying liars about abortion and breast cancer and abortion and instant insanity.

Then I googled the two names given as contacts in the press release. Oh, look: Natalie Hudson is the director of education for Pro-Life BC and Yvonne Douma, Executive Director of The Signal Hill, seems to moonlight as a personal chef.

A new year, a new set of lying liars, a new poll. *sigh*

They'll never stop, will they?

doubts about Doubt

Yesterday evening I saw the movie Doubt with friends, some who are recovering Catholics and one who was once a nun.

As the end credits rolled up on the screen I turned to a friend and whispered, "Well, that movie won't be sending anyone rushing back into the arms of the Church!"

Doubt was directed and written by John Patrick Shanley who adapted it from his own stage play. Shanley has mined his New York Bronx Irish Catholic background brilliantly in the past and produced many theatrical and cinematic gems. I was seduced and transported by Moonstruck, which was directed by our own Norman Jewison.

But Doubt left me cold. It is a parable, there is no doubt about that, but its adaptation into a movie did not feel entirely successful. As drama, it must have been riveting to the audience who witnessed the verbal confrontations between Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn.

"Doubt has gotten a bad reputation. People who are utterly certain are vulnerable to a brand of foolishness that people who maintain a level of doubt are not." - John Patrick Shanley, explaining why audiences are left to decide for themselves whether Sister Aloysius is wise or overly zealous in her determination to expose the charismatic Father Flynn as a pedophile. (11/20/04 New York Times, interview with David Cote).

In the sixties, nuns never challenged the actions of priests, to do so was to transgress the hierarchal authority of the clergy. The dialogue is minimalist and powerful. But the direction and cinematography of critical scenes did not do justice to the words and to the rigour of the actors' performance, in my opinion.

Doubt was a good movie, it simply didn't have the power and the cinematic excellence of another film that it brings to mind, Agnes of God.

The ugly face of religious and political zealotry

Any moment now, Blob Blogging Wingnut will be making an announcement that feminism and feminists are responsible to blame for this atrocity in Afghanistan.

Because if there is one thing that brings rabid fundamentalist catholic and islamist fanatics together with genocidal religious patriots, it's the way these authoritarian zealots try to evade responsibility for their words and actions by attacking those who challenge the premise of their authority.

Bang, zoom, straight to the moon!

In Michael Ignatieff’s recent mea culpa , not only does he acknowledge that he was wrong about the Iraq invasion but he reveals a humility that has endeared so many Canadian voters — not. Peppering his earlier paragraphs with quotes from the philosopher Isaiah Berlin, he faults his error in judgment on the academic’s propensity to view the world through ideas and knowledge rather than simple understanding of reality. This convoluted explanation of the difference between the intellectual and politician serves as some kind of proof that he has rappelled the walls of his ivory tower to embrace the simplicity of thought of the common man. And who better to represent that common man than Ralph Kramden!

“As a former denizen of Harvard, I’ve had to learn that a sense of reality doesn’t always flourish in elite institutions. It is the street virtue par excellence. Bus drivers can display a shrewder grasp of what’s what than Nobel Prize winners. The only way any of us can improve our grasp of reality is to confront the world every day and learn, mostly from our mistakes, what works and what doesn’t. Yet even lengthy experience can fail us in life and in politics. Experience can imprison decision-makers in worn-out solutions while blinding them to the untried remedy that does the trick.”

The “bus driver” has a shrewder grasp of reality because he bumbles along in life and picks up a few “what’s what” by learning from mistakes. You have to wade through some 15 or 16 paragraphs that grapple with the obstacles faced by politicians and the challenges of dealing with Iraq before Ignatieff actually and clearly acknowledges that he was wrong because others were less wrong. Those who were against the Iraq invasion were too common and simple to know they were right!?! How else can we interpret this:

“We might test judgment by asking, on the issue of Iraq, who best anticipated how events turned out. But many of those who correctly anticipated catastrophe did so not by exercising judgment but by indulging in ideology. They opposed the invasion because they believed the president was only after the oil or because they believed America is always and in every situation wrong.”

Ignatieff’s so-called apology is pompous and self-serving. In the paragraph that follows, he basically calls those who demonstrated good judgment callous cynics who didn’t suppose the human rights ideals that fueled his own belief that a free state could arise on the foundations of 35 years of police terror. His vision and good intentions, like those of Bush and such honourable Iraqi exiles as Ahmed Chalabi, were his failings? Ignatieff and his fellow neo-conservative pundits do owe an apology for defending and boosting the Bush administration’s ridiculous and illegal plans to liberate Iraq by bringing ruin and insecurity to a nation that had not posed any threat to the US or its allies.

Ignatieff might learn a thing or two about the common man by renting The Honeymooners on DVD. Robert Svedi had this to say about the appeal of this television classic:

“Another reason for The Honeymooners long shelf life is that the problems that the Kramden's and the Norton's faced some fifty years ago, are the same problems that still plague people today. Money shortages, being stuck in a dead-end job, housing and relationship issues and the desire to better one's condition are all things that are dealt with on a daily basis for most of the population every day. The Honeymooners allow us to laugh at ourselves while teaching us that the most valuable commodities are really love and friendship.”

Jackie Gleason’s bus driver has more insight into the human condition than this wannabe Prime Minister.

UPDATE: For the sake of political expediency, I thought I would bite my tongue on the LPC's coronation of Ignatieff as the de facto leader of the party. I've expressed my doubts that he would put his personal ambition aside to work for solutions for Canadians, including working within a coalition government should Harper fail to deliver anything but a just and effective budget. But his recent comments with respect to the brutal assault of Gaza by the IDF was just too much to remain silent. My fellow progressive bloggers have been raking Iggy over the coals and provide great insight as to why he is an utter disappointment. Some have suggested I repost this because it is just too damn easy to dismiss this latest pronouncement as just a gaffe when in fact, Ignatieff has been pretty consistent in his views.

Here is a list of some excellent posts about Iggy's "not an occupation" statement worth reading:

• Ignatieff Gets a Huge Pat On The Back - from The National Post

• Gaza: "Big Concentration Camp"

• Israel faces UN war crimes probe

• Not Good Enough

• Ignatieff the Bloody

• Wanker of the day

• An Israeli atrocity

• Oh, Iggy

Cross-posted at Resettle THIS!

Won't someone please think of the kidney? (Part 2)

You want your WHAT!?!?! back?

It appears that Rod Bruinooge is not the only male afflicted with an exalted sense of self-importance nor an obsession with the kidney.

A Long Island surgeon embroiled in a nearly four-year divorce proceeding wants his estranged wife to return the kidney he donated to her, although he says he'll settle for $1.5 million in compensation. ...

Matrimonial attorneys were quick to shoot down any possibility Batista would succeed. "I've been in this business over 40 years and I've never heard of that," said Seymour J. Reisman, a Long Island divorce lawyer. "It's not marital property, not a marital asset you can put a price tag on."

Manhattan attorney Susan Moss said, "The good doctor is out of luck and out a kidney. This is similar to cases where a husband wants to be repaid for the cost of breast implants and the such. Our judges are not willing to value such assets, so to speak."

Wow! And some men claim that women have a monopoly on spite and vengeance?

Grand merci to TD for the scoop.

Monsanto's Chia Pet

Many US multinational businesses are struggling at the moment, though there's one that's doing exceptionally well on the stock market:

Monsanto Co., the world's biggest seed maker, said Wednesday its fiscal first-quarter profit more than doubled on higher sales to Latin America, and raised its expectations for the year. Shares soared $12.94, or 17.7 percent, to close at $86.16. The strong results came even during a dismal period in the global agricultural markets, with crop prices plunging from record highs hit this summer.

Of course, with the appointment of former Iowa governor and Monsanto pal Tom Vilsack to the position of Secretary of Agriculture, the corporation's business interests will surely be well protected.

Here are some thoughts regarding the global stranglehold that agribusiness corporations are enforcing on local and continental food suppliers, specifically the drive to establish their own genetically modified (GM) seeds and products.

Agro-chemicals cause desertification, deforestation, water depletion, loss of income (poverty) and hunger. Over 90% of African forest cover has been stripped away by agribusiness and loggers, mandated by the World Bank’s structural adjustment policies (SAP). The bulk of food is exported to pay off debt. ...

Intensive irrigation has left Africa in the midst of impending and imploding water wars; 72% of fresh water is used for monocrops, drastically depleting trans-boundary water basins. The US – 4% of global population — is the largest shareholder of the WB at 17% and the key beneficiary of resources, consuming over 60% of global resources. The remaining G8 control 40%. Ordinary Americans remain unaware of these policies; small and medium farmers in the US are rapidly disappearing due to loss of income … The system benefits corporate agribusiness alone.

In true Machiavellian-like style, gene giants have realised that patented sorghum and other indigenous crops, reduced to a few commercialised varieties, unravel the lynchpin of African agricultural security.

There are hundreds of sorghum varieties grown in Africa, from Tanzania to Nigeria, selectively bred for specific regions and climates. Sorghum, mainly grown in drier areas, is known for “drought resistant” qualities due to its genetic ability to retain water, and is vital for nutrition, fodder, and fibre eg sorghum straw is utilised for housing, biodegradable packaging etc. ...

Sorghum is the steak of emerging countries: more than 80% of protein is derived from plant products in countries like China, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and India. Sorghum is also one of many maize substitutes tapped for animal feed and biofuels required by the US flesh and energy industry. This is why Du Pont aims to donate seeds, replacing and contaminating traditionally saved seeds. And this is essentially the crux of the Second Green Revolution, initiated once again by the Rockefellers, the World Bank, and USAID amongst others like the Gates Foundation, the Syngenta Foundation – the arm of Syngenta, a major agri-multinational – etc.

USAID has stated that the aim of food aid is to “integrate technology and GM food into local markets” and promote US business. The First Green Revolution, instituted while Africa held a food surplus, injected over $28-billion over a period of 30 years toward implementing agro-chemicals and commercialised hybrid seed technologies. Probably not what Mendel – the father of the science of genetics — had in mind when he set about analysing peas in the garden monastery.

More about Tom Vilsack here.

Terrorism and terror

Much has been said and written about the events in Gaza. I listen to Radio-Canada and I read news coverage that attempts to balance the overwhelming, initial pro-Israel bias with parsimonious information eked out from Gaza. Progressive Bloggers have been particularly diligent in seeking out alternate news sources and writing about this bloody conflict which has both sides targeting civilian populations. The side with the best weaponry is inflicting the most savage damage as the number of deaths, mutilations and crippling wounds increase every day in Gaza.

Terror: Intense, overpowering fear. Violence committed or threatened by a group to intimidate or coerce a population, as for military or political purposes.

Terrorism: The use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes. The state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization. A terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.

Terrorism, 1795, in specific sense of "government intimidation during the Reign of Terror in France" (1793-July 1794), from Fr. terrorisme (1798).

"If the basis of a popular government in peacetime is virtue, its basis in a time of revolution is virtue and terror - virtue, without which terror would be barbaric; and terror, without which virtue would be impotent." (Robespierre, speech in French National Convention, 1794)

General sense of "systematic use of terror as a policy" is first recorded in Eng. 1798. Terrorize "coerce or deter by terror" first recorded 1823. Terrorist in the modern sense dates to 1947, especially in reference to Jewish tactics against the British in Palestine - earlier it was used of extremist revolutionaries in Russia (1866); and Jacobins during the French Revolution (1795) - from Fr. terroriste. The tendency of one party's terrorist to be another's guerilla or freedom fighter was noted in ref. to the British action in Cyprus (1956) and the war in Rhodesia (1973).

How to end this conflict? Fighting terrorism with terrorism appears to be a losing strategy for all sides. There are alternatives, though they rarely receive the attention and the financial support that armed confrontations do. Which is not incidentally a result of the increasingly lucrative weapons industry.

Here's an overview of groups and organizations who are attempting to fight terrorism and violence with information, reason and pacifist means.

Women Against Occupation

Adalah-NY: Coalition for Justice in the Middle East

Jews Against the Occupation

Feminist Peace Network

Christian Peacemaker Teams

In The Mood ....

If Dennis Prager is married (his recent whining and carping about sex-on-demand for men makes one wonder about his marital status) I really feel sorry for his wife. But that remains for her to sort out with him. If he's married. Still.

For the sake of balance, DAMMIT JANET! will provide married men (yeah, you too Dennis, if it applies) with some advice about getting women "in the mood".

Do housework. Serious housework. Cheerfully. Efficiently. Diligently. Every week. Not as a reward for sex, but as an enticement.

Nothing gets a woman in the mood faster than watching a man sweat over a kitchen floor, getting it squeaky clean.

Finally, avoid marrying one of those ProWomanProLife gals. Their advice to women, regarding married sex is probably that women should "Close your eyes and think of England". One of them supports the notion that only casual sex is pleasurable sex. I really feel sorry for her husband.

Benny Ratzo Pontificates Again

From the folks who brought you the Inquisition, more illuminating fundamentalist religious dogma served up as concern for the environment and of course, male breeding capacity.

In December, the Vatican opposed the use of the soon-to-be-available in Italy RU486 pill aka the morning-after contraception.

Faithful to its tradition of selective equivocation and/or denial of scientific data, the Vatican is claiming via its mouthpiece:

Pedro Jose Maria Simon Castellvi, president of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations said in a report in the Vatican newspaper, l'Osservatore Romano, that not only do“[they] have sufficient evidence to state that a non-negligible cause of male infertility in the West is the environmental pollution caused by the pill,” but that the pill “has for some years had devastating effects on the environment by releasing tonnes of hormones into nature” via female urine.

The Vatican's claim has been challenged by experts.

Here in Canada, scientists have demonstrated after decades of research on the Great Lakes, regarding the effect of contamination by PCBs:

... like many other chlorinated chemicals, PCBs are soluble in fat, so they tend to accumulate in living things and to enter the food webs, where they concentrate. The higher you are on a food chain, the greater the concentration of PCBs. Large fish and creatures that eat large fish, tend to accumulate in their flesh thousands, even millions of times the background levels of PCBs. Furthermore, by a cruel twist of fate, large birds and marine mammals (seals, sea lions, whales, and some dolphins) lack enzyme systems to efficiently detoxify PCBs. As a result, PCBs build up in the bodies of these predators and are passed to their offspring through eggs (in the case of fish and birds) and milk (in the case of mammals). PCBs mimic hormones and are a powerful disrupter of the endocrine system that governs reproduction. Marine mammals are already having trouble reproducing. It is entirely possible that, as more PCBs reach the oceans, all large mammals will disappear.

The Vatican is once again, attempting to spin stories to suit its ideological agenda.

Update: Antonia Z blogs about it here - Mellow Yellow. And more merriment, via Creekside's wise-beyond-her-days Emma Embryo.

Pay Equity for Blob Blogging Wingnut.

When LuLu posted about Suzie ALL-CAPS latest dumbassitude, who knew that the comments would foment a ground swell of agitation, demanding that SHE (also known as Blob Blogging Wingnut) receive the same monetary compensation as HER rightwingnutter male homologues. As sooey says:

"Gee, Mark Steyn and David Warren get paid big bucks to say the same stupid shit. Suzanne should go after some pay equity."

There is of course a teeny problem with the notion of demanding justice for Blob Blogging Wingnut since she is so virulently anti-feminist. We wouldn't want to be forcing the principle of fairness with regards to blogging production, against HER will, would we? After all, does SHE try to force HER ideological beliefs on other women? Thus we at DAMMIT JANET! want to be MASSIVELY democratic about the process of agitating for equal pay for work of equal value for Blob Blogging Wingnut.

So we've started a poll in the sidebar. If you feel that SHE deserves to be paid the same remuneration as HER male equivalents who are blogging the same inane, inept, vapid, vacuous and obfuscating crap - vote yes to question #1. If you feel that HER male equivalents should be paid the same stipend as Blob Blogging Wingnut, which is a BIG FAT nothing - vote yes to question #2.

My suggestion is that you hurry though, in posting your answer. Stevie and his RepubliCons are planning to abolish pay equity, as directed by the membership of the ReformaTory Party at their Winnipeg convention in November 2008. You may recall it was one of the points that Flaherty presented in his budget forecast that precipated a major political crisis and a stand-off between the Progressive Coalition and the forces of evil Cons.

Media Freak Show

More from the slow news day media freak show.

On December 19 a woman gave birth at Kingsbury Station, on the Jubilee London Underground Line.

That in itself is unusual, since that makes her "the second person to give birth on London's Underground rail network since it opened 146 years ago" according to Reuters UK.

Most, if not all media who carried the news item also mentioned that she is Polish and homeless.

Those descriptives are not insignificant, as they play into a national fear that the UK is under siege and that hordes of foreigners from the EU are invading its cities.

Strange that not one media noted a connection with another pregnant woman who gave birth far away from home, near the winter solstice. Except that woman's infant was not a girl.