Enough.

I know, I know. With so much else to get exercised (or exorcised) over in public matters these days, it's kinda silly to retread old ground.

BUT I AM TOTALLY FUCKING SICK OF THIS.

Today, stenographer L. Stone reports on Maurice Vellacott's musings on Dr Morgentaler's death.

He trots out all the old lies and she dutifully notes them.

The release goes on to list the “physical complications” of abortion: breast cancer, cervical lacerations and injury, uterine perforations, bleeding, hemorrhage, serious infection, pain, and incomplete abortion.

It discusses “placenta previa” – the improper implantation of the placenta, in future pregnancies. It lists the psychological harms linked to abortion including increased risks of major depression, anxiety disorder, suicidal behaviors and suicide, and substance abuse and dependence.

“The pregnant women who get assaulted by their boyfriends, lovers and husbands because they refuse to get an abortion are among the often silent victims of Morgentaler’s unrestricted abortion regime. These women have been harmed immeasurably by Morgentaler’s unrestricted abortion regime,” it reads.

“Victims of sexual assault who are dragged to abortion mills by their abusers or pimps when pregnant cannot count on abortion providers to report these cases of suspected sexual assault. Many of these victims of sexual assault are minors. These women have been harmed immeasurably by Morgentaler’s unrestricted abortion regime.”

She even notes that Vellacott provides a handy list of 'more than a dozen links to articles and anti-abortion websites', not one of which she consulted.

As I just pointed out to her on twitter, I -- and many, many others -- have made it our business to counter this crap whenever it appears. And it appears that there is an endless taste for it.

This has been going on long enough. I've been cataloguing the bullshit for six years.

Here's our work on Vellacott's crap in particular, and on BAD (bad, agenda-driven) Science in general.

Others have also worked this beat for years. Here's Dr. Dawg from 2008.

And here's Alison on Vellacott again from the year of grace 2006.

Others, including the American Psychological Association, Canadian and US Cancer Societies, British Psychiatric Society, and on and on and on, have weighed in authoritatively on all the bullshit.

Enough. Call the fetus fetishists out or don't report on them.

UPDATE: Our pal and sister blogger on this beat (as well as others) Alison sends an informative link. Joel Brind, one of the old sweats of the Abortion Causes Breast Cancer canard, was debunked 21 fucking years ago. So why are we still dealing with this? Why isn't the MSM grown up enough to check their own bloody sources?

Hmmm?

The Issue Is ELECTION FRAUD

Dan Gardner has an excellent question:

Somebody using the ruling party's database tried to subvert an election. Why isn't the country on fire about this? huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/28/rob…

— Dan Gardner (@dgardner) May 30, 2013

Let's turn our tiny, distractible minds away from the Senate train-wreck and the escalating Ford fuck-up.

The Contempt Party of Canada cheated to win its 'strong, stable majority'.

And doesn't seem the least bit concerned that their own database was used to commit fraud.

Asked about the database breach, Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey said: “We take security very seriously.”

He refused, however, to elaborate on the CIMS’ safeguards. Sources have told HuffPost, however, that the CIMS’ safeguards include passwords for need-to-know access and tracking of individual accounts.

Chris Selley:

The Federal Court refused to overturn any election results from 2011 because the onus of proof was on the plaintiffs to prove that an actual outcome was altered. And the plaintiffs, quite honestly, did a sorry job of this. But the court did affirm that election fraud had taken place, fraud almost certainly perpetrated by someone having access to the Conservative CIMS (Constituent Information Management System) database. Moreover, Justice Richard Mosley castigated the Conservative MPs defending the suit for attempting to “block these proceedings by any means” and making “transparent attempts to derail this case.” He actually used the phrase “trench warfare” to characterize their attitude.

The Tories don’t seem too worried that CIMS has been compromised, which would be their single worst election-readiness nightmare not involving an alien attack or dirty bombs. They are not even pretending to tell us how they intend to guarantee that this sort of election fraud will never happen again. The general attitude of their defenders outside caucus seems to be, “Ha ha, we introduced a horrifying dirty-tricks virus into Canadian politics and got away with it.” But, sure: ain’t that Senate terrible?

Yo! Fucking Useless Opposition®! THIS is the issue.

And FFS, stop calling it Robocall.

Juxtapose: Morgentaler and Tiller

Nothing could be starker in a comparison between the US and Canada.

Yesterday, Dr Henry Morgentaler died at home at the age of 90. (The best profile I've read is by Sandra Martin.)

Four years ago tomorrow, Dr George Tiller was gunned down in the vestibule of his church.

In coverage of Dr Morgentaler, Canadian media seem to want to stir things up, giving equal time to fetus fetishists to sanctimoniously offer condolences while lying their asses off about the growing strength of their movement.

Here's CBC's Power and Politics interviewing Carolyn Egan and Alyssa Golob.

Really? @pnpcbc had a fetus fetishist on? OK then, when Nelson Mandela dies, they'll have have a KKKer, right? #WhatFuckingYearIsIt #cdnpoli

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) May 29, 2013

But here is the thing. Despite anti-choice lies and sneaky back-door attempts to reopen the debate, abortion is a totally dead issue in Canada.

In fact, support for unrestricted abortion is actually 'skyrocketing'. From October 2012:

A Forum Research poll for the National Post recently asked 1,735 randomly selected Canadians 18 years of age or older when abortion should be legal.

A full 60% of Canadians said always.

That’s surprisingly high. Even more surprising: That number’s skyrocketed in recent months. In a similar Forum poll conducted last February, only 51% of Canadians took that position.

Yes, we have more work to do on access. And yes, we will remain eternally vigilant because the fetus fetishists will NEVER give up.

But Canada is undoubtedly pro-choice. And we have Dr Morgentaler and countless others to thank for that.

Blame the Brainy Ladies

Le sigh.

Something else to blame women for.

Research published online in the journal Intelligence on Thursday claims the IQ of people in Western nations has fallen by an average of 14.1 points over the past century.

Why would that be?

Conservative politics?

Chemical pollution?

Shitty education system?

Nope.

Brainy ladies.

Previous research has found that women of higher intelligence are having fewer children, meaning women of lower intelligence are driving population growth, according to the study.

Over time, experts say, that would affect the average IQ of a population.

Doncha love it when the anti-choicers crow that they will out-breed the sane people?

Well, this is the comeuppance: stupidity.

But we knew that, didn't we?

Smoking Crack with DRUG DEALERS

OK, so Ford Nation is apparently standing by their asshat guy.

Mostly they're in denial that the video exists.

On Twitter today Ezra LeRant aired a different theory.

It's not just class. It's race. Rob Ford is the 1st black mayor. At least brown. Ask any cabbie or corner store owner maisonneuve.org/post/2013/05/2…

— Ezra Levant (@ezralevant) May 28, 2013

Leaving aside the incredible racism of that, I decided to take the challenge (and I needed cigarettes).

My local convenience store is owned by a bunch of brown guys. Not related as far as I can tell. Some, judging by accent, born here or got here really early, some born elsewhere. I think Pakistan, that part of the world, but I've never asked.

Sometimes, there's a woman in a head-scarf hanging around. She never serves customers and for quite a while seemed to disapprove of me. She's warmed up a little and occasionally smiles at me now.

So, brown Muslim people.

I have a good relationship with the two main guys. One in particular really likes me. I have no idea why but he always gives me a big smile and a free lighter.

My fave guy was behind the counter today. I decided not to ask him if he thought Rob Ford was black, lest he think me nuts and cut off my free lighters.

But I did ask him what he thought about Ford smoking crack.

At first he shrugged, clearly not wanting to answer. But I figure all those lighters put me in a special category so I pushed and he said something interesting.

'In this country, everybody does that.'

Me: 'What? No. Not everybody smokes crack. I don't know anyone who has smoked crack.'

Him: 'Well, maybe not crack, but something. Marijuana. . .'

Me: 'OK, yes, lots of people do or have tried soft drugs. But not a lot do hard drugs like cocaine or crack.'

He shrugged again, trying to dodge. I pushed some more.

Me: 'What do you think of him doing drugs with drug dealers?'

Him: 'OK. That's bad.'

Of course I have no idea how representative his view is, but think about it.

You come from a very conservative society. And land in Toronto, which at the moment has the 'least photogenic human being in the history of the species' as mayor.

This mayor not only looks weird, he does weird shit, but then, in your view, most of your new neighbours do weird shit.

Maybe they all do weird shit like smoke crack. Even the mayor.

This doesn't bear thinking about, so when a pushy customer asks you about it, you try to dodge the question.

In talking to our neighbours about this, maybe we should lean more heavily on the questionable/criminal company Ford keeps.

And, of course, when the video comes out -- and it will -- lean very heavily on the comment FatFuck made about 'f---ing minorities'.

By the way, I still got a lighter even after I was pushy.

Image that inspired 'least photogenic human being' comment.




Hm, image is too small. Go to the source to get the full effect. Also, a pretty good article.

Can We Talk about the Gosnell Case? Apparently Not

Yet another demonstration of why there is no common ground between pro- and anti-choice.

When Kermit Gosnell was convicted Tuesday in the deaths of three babies, it might have been a moment for anti-abortion and abortion rights groups to come together over something they both opposed: a doctor providing bad medical care to women.

Instead, it was another moment of dissension. Anti-abortion groups warned that Gosnell was just one example of many doctors who carry out troubling late-term abortions across the country, while abortion rights groups said women went to Gosnell's "house of horrors" Philadelphia clinic because they didn't know what other options were available.

"I would hope that we could both rally behind the prosecution of someone who was providing subpar medical care to women," says Leah Chamberlain, administrator of the Philadelphia Women's Center, one of the first abortion clinics in the city. "[But] this situation seems to be drawing clear divisions between the two camps and there's a lot of yelling at each other rather than listening."

Yeah, you'd think we could agree at least on that.

But no.

There is common ground, but it is occupied by pro-choicers. We already support all the family friendly, abortion-reducing things: affordable birth control, adoption, child care, comprehensive sex ed, financial and other support for pregnant women and families, and good health care for all.

There is no talking to, let alone compromising with fanatical fetus fetishists, and, thankfully at least in Canada, no earthly reason to.

Anti-Choice 'Sophisticated'? ROTFLMAO!

I realize that books have to be flogged, but lately these people, Paul Saurette and Kelly Gordon, have been all over Canadian media with a 'new' take on fetus fetishist strategy.

Actually, it ain't new at all, but hey, those women's studies MAs (pdf) don't write themselves, you know.

The thesis is that the anti-choice movement in Canada is getting 'sophisticated', co-opting pro-choice language, framing abortion as 'harming women', moving the *undebate* into a discussion of free speech and democracy, claiming that it's a 'youth movement', and playing the 'silenced' victim card.

The anti-abortion movement in Canada, while increasingly enlivened and sophisticated, remains a small minority. Clearly phrased polls show that Canadians do not want the issue re-politicized. This is precisely why Harper promised not to do so. He knows that it is a toxic issue for his goal of mainstreaming conservatism. The anti-abortion movement has also understood that the old arguments and positioning have not worked. They are therefore increasingly seeking to frame the issue in ways that piggyback on values, issues and rhetorical strategies traditionally used by progressive movements (and which have greater traction and resonance in Canadian society).

Veteran fetus fetishist watchers (ahem) recognize all these tactics. They've been trying them forever.

The 'abortion harms women (AHW)' meme originated over a decade ago with the 'Moses' of the 'post-abortion movement', quack David Reardon. They try, amusingly, to back this up with sciencey stuff that we here at DJ! love to debunk. That abortion causes breast cancer, insanity, substance abuse, etc etc.

Warawa's Wank, aka #M408, is a variant on AHW with the new twist that abortion harms 'preborn' women.

Co-opting language, been there, done that.



Free speech, democracy, and human rights? Yep. Comparisons of abortion to slavery, genocide, and the Holocaust abound.

Youth movement? Sure, especially since they're now admitting that Catholic schools pay to bus kids to events like March for Lies.

Hilariously, they've been trying to 'hip'-ify their activities for years too.

Martyrdom has always been big with them, recently celebrated with
Jubilee medals courtesy of the Canadian government.

Silencing? Old hat.




In trying to work up a new take on a dying movement, these new kids on the block give the fetus fetishists waaaay too much credit. It's the sameold sameold, no matter how many books they have to sell hard they try to spin it.

Divide the Right: Fetal Gore Porn Gang Targets Harper

Woo-hoo!.

From the Fetal Gore Tour nutters:

Anti-Abortion Face-Off with Stephen Harper

Postcards with Aborted Fetus Images Alongside Harper Images Go to Constituents

Calgary, AB. Starting today, a group of anti-abortion activists will circulate postcards with images of Prime Minister Stephen Harper next to bloody, graphic pictures of late-term aborted children to homes in Harper’s constituency.  Harper is the first of five politicians the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR) says it will make “Face the Children”—the name of its new project.  The group plans to distribute 250,000 postcards in the five ridings by summer’s end.

You can see the postcard at the link.

They are keeping mum on the other politicians they will target.

This is a beauty lose-lose for Herr Harper.

Keep It Simple: Commit Math

Now, this has gotta sting, coming as it does from former senior advisor to Heil Harper, Keith Beardsley.

Fiscal responsibility has been the hallmark of the Harper government from day one. It's therefore quite interesting to see in year seven of his reign that the opposition is focused on trying to destroy the credibility the Tories have on that front. It's a good strategy on their part, enabled by some help from the government side.

He cites Scott Brison's jibe about each Economic Action Scam ad on Hockey Night in Canada representing the cost of the federal contribution to 32 summer student jobs.

Beardsley notes:

Simple stuff, but it resonates with Canadian families struggling to get their kids through university.

Yes, that resonates with Canadians with kids, but how about something that will resonate with all of us?

I did some math. One ad spot costs $95,000. The average yearly Old Age Supplement is a paltry $6,180.

Ergo, one EAScam ad = 15.3 yearly pensions.

In our ongoing quest to Divide the Right, it's time to bang the fiscal wastebin a little harder.

The other day I blogged about just two items: the mystery billions spent on consultants and the Economic Action Scam ads.

On Twitter, I asked my good friend Connie what her members think of such waste and unaccountability.

She obliged and started a thread at the Freaks with a link to my blogpost.

Embarrassing - hardcore leftists calling CPC on fiscal waste

by Connie Fournier » 05/ 09/ 13 11:23 am

With the CPC Convention coming up really soon, it's a good time for us to take an honest look at how the majority CPC government has been performing so far.

When the far, far left is calling the government on fiscal waste, I think we need to, at least, check it out.

What do y'all think?

It didn't get much response. But hey, I'm trying and Connie is willing.

Harper is fucked on the so-con file and he knows it as Chantal Hébert points out.

And as a commenter there observes, the base is finally getting it too.

For all these years Harper's worked on the theory the "base" of his party isn't too bright, and it's taken the base this long to figure it out - which pretty much speaks for itself.

Scott Brison is a smart feller. So is Keith Beardsley. Let's help them out. Commit more math!

ADDED: Here's another unit of measurement: $3,000 a day for CON media monitoring. Two days = 1 average OAS pension.

March for Lies A Bust

I'm calling it. March for Lies was a huge bust. Look at all the weaselling.

LifeShite:

Up to 25,000 pro-lifers packed Parliament Hill today under threats of thunderstorms. The bad weather, however, held out, providing sunny conditions for the 16th National March for Life.

This year was another record-breaking year for the federal parliament's largest annual rally. Organizers estimated the crowd at likely near 25,000 given the evident substantial increase in numbers over last year, when the count was 19,500.

Because, you know, every year must be bigger than the year before. And 19,500 was a pretty large porky last year.

Other news outlets were a bit more cautious.

More than 10,000 people joined the 16th annual anti-abortion March for Life on Parliament Hill Thursday, with several Conservative MPs adding their support to the throng.  A small group of pro-choice advocates staged counter-demonstrations.

But the real knee to the nads comes from Stun News.

A count of the crowd by QMI Agency set the attendance of Thursday's rally at about 5,000.

The RCMP estimated a crowd of 12,000, while organizers said there were 15,000.

And now a note from the Martyrdom and Mail, aka Kicking Abortion's Ass:

Just heard from a friend of the family that the cops prohibited the last 2000 people on the Hill from marching. Probably couldn’t handle the numbers. Too many people. In the future, there will be so many people on the Hill, it will overflow to the Streets. There won’t be any room to march.

Buses carry, what, 50-60 people? So that's 35 to 40 buses diverted, cordoned off, or something by police?

Yeah, right.

And nothing says 'take us seriously' like a bunch of men in feathered hats.

ENOUGH KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS TO BESIEGE A SMALL CASTLE. #MFLtwitpic.com/cpf2uj

— InfoAlerteBot (@InfoAlerteBot) May 9, 2013

The last word goes to veteran March of the Feti watcher, David Akin.

I say again: March For Life easily the largest annual protest on the Hill - and all to absolutely no effect. #cdnpoli #mfl

— David Akin (@davidakin) May 9, 2013

The real tell is that they're not even protesting the numbers very hard this year.

They know it was a bust.

Hill Cam shot from 1:15 yesterday. That look like even 15,000 people to you?

Expanded, NOT Restricted, Abortion Options

Canada's lawless abortion regime rightfully stands as a beacon to progressive countries struggling to escape patriarchal attitudes to women's health and reproductive freedom.

But as we've noted recently (here and here), Australia has grabbed the patriarchal bull by the RU486 (aka 'home abortion pill') horns.

Pioneered by Dr Caroline de Costa, the medication is set to be added to Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory list, which would lower the cost from $300-400 to $36 for woman who can pay and $12 for women on benefits.

(For those interested, there is -- of course -- a political angle. When Tony Abbott, former seminarian nicknamed the Mad Monk, was Minister of Health in a previous government, he fought tooth and nail to keep RU486 out of the country. Now that he is Liberal leader of the opposition, feminists and pro-choicers are dredging up that unsavory past to paint him in a light unfriendly to women.)

Meanwhile, in Canada, RU486, or mifepristone, remains unapproved by Health Canada.

In fact, the most recent reference I can find to it in medical literature is a paper from 2005 by Jennifer LaLiberté.

Mifepristone has been around for more than 20 years. It is considered to be very safe and is the preferred method of medical abortion in many countries, most notably France.

Use of mifepristone (Mifeprex®) has been associated with fewer deaths than Tylenol or Viagra, and is safer than full term pregnancy.

Antis love to cite the rare instances of complications and really really love to cite the ickyness of the process. In fact, some like Big Nursie Stanek, absolutely revel in descriptions of cramps, bleeding, and pain.

But, frankly, only people who believe women's reproductive organs mirror Barbie's smooth plastic parts, think that being female is all sugar and spice.

Who among us hasn't has a narsty bloody crampy period and wondered just what was happening? Is this a miscarriage, we wonder? We don't know, do we? We just deal with it.

Today, on March of the Feti Day, as hundreds (of bussed-in Catholic schoolchildren) gather on Parliament Hill to shriek abuse and hatred at women, it seems appropriate to ask: just what the hell is going on with RU486 in Canada?

It has many benefits: safety, lower complication rates than other medical abortions, privacy, and -- in particular -- cost. In a universal healthcare system, it is the duty of policy makers to satisfy patients while minimizing cost.

A recent news story about Health Canada may shed some light on our federal health regulatory body.

In mid-April this year, there was a badly bungled recall of birth control pills.

Apotex, the maker, discovered that some lots of pills contained not one week of sugar-pills (included to insure that women take a pill every day) but TWO weeks, significantly raising the chances of unintended pregnancy in women who thought they had that covered.

Apotex informed Health Canada of the problem last Thursday. However, Health Canada and Apotex failed to inform the general public of the problem until last Monday, nearly a week after the problem was first identified. A Health Canada spokeswoman explained that an urgent recall was not issued immediately because the problem with the pill was not considered life-or-death. Instead, the department and Apotex issued a “Class II” recall, reserved for products that may cause temporary health issues, or where the probability of a serious health impact is low.

In other words, risk of accidental pregnancy was not deemed serious enough to trigger an urgent product recall.

The department upgraded the recall on Monday to a Class I recall after realizing some women who shouldn’t become pregnant for medical reasons could be affected.

Health Canada spokeswoman Blossom Leung said in an e-mail the recall assessment takes health impacts into account, not “lifestyle impacts” such as unplanned pregnancy, which is why the urgent product recall was only issued Monday.

A department that considers an unplanned pregnancy a 'lifestyle impact' and not, for some women, a devastating health risk, is -- one might say -- a tad tone-deaf to the reproductive needs of Canadian women.

And we're not the only ones wondering what's up. Here, pharmacist and lawyer, John Griess, writing about OxyContin compares the US FDA's approach to Health Canada's. The FDA would not approve a generic form of OxyContin, considered to be hella more dangerous to addicts than the reformulated version, while Health Canada saw no problemo with it.

Health Canada’s focus on bioequivalence with no mention of its duty to “protect the public by minimizing risks” highlights the difference between the two organizations, and indicates why clinicians and Canadians should be concerned about what’s going on at Health Canada.

So, as fetus fetishists stomp their widdle feet on Parliament Hill today, we ask: What is Health Canada doing to provide Canadian women and families with the widest possible choice of legal, safe, preferred, and cost-effective medications to terminate pregnancy?

After all, isn't that the most rational (i.e. non-religious) argument fetus fetishists have? That they don't want to pay for 'lifestyle issues' of slutty women?

Seems Health Canada doesn't want to either, even at a greatly reduced cost to taxpayers.

We at DJ! suggest that women raise the issue with their doctors and OB/GYNs. Also, we should inform ourselves about the safety and efficacy of mifepristone. We will need to counter the lies of the antis if/when this issue ever comes up in Canada.

ADDED: Gail of ROAR in PEI has some trenchant thoughts.

ADDED: Jarrah of Gender Focus adds her thoughts. There is no reason this is not available to Canadian women.

ProWomanProForcedPregnancy Is a Total Stand-Alone (Astroturf) Organization

In a recent blogpost about March for Lies being such a good teachable moment for young women to learn slut-shaming and sanctimonious judgement, we mentioned that the original article by Amanda Watson seems to have struck a nerve with those professional female slut-shamers over at ProWomanProForcedPregnancy.

They responded with their lie protest that they are NOT affiliated with other organizations.

You be the judge. The principal is Andrea Mrozek. Here's her day job.

Andrea currently works at the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada as Manager of Research and Communications.

But PWPFP is not owned or affiliated with James Dobson's loathesome Focus on the Family, they say.

Seems opinions differ on that.

Focus on the Family Canada (French: Objectif Famille) is a Canadian affiliate of the American evangelical Christian organization Focus on the Family.
. . .

Focus on the Family Canada is operated and directed independently of Focus on the Family USA.[citation needed] However, some ties do exist between the two organizations. Between 2000 and 2003, the Canadian affiliate received $1.6 million in services from the larger American organization. Two members on the board of directors of Focus on the Family Canada, Tom Mason and Jim Daly, are also vice-presidents of Focus on the Family in the United States. Other than receiving financial support from Focus on the Family USA between 2000 and 2003, Focus on the Family Canada relies fully on donor support for its operations.
. . .
Focus on the Family Canada has also established the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada/Institut du Mariage et de la Famille Canada (IMFC).

It's all just a big coincidence that Mrozek moonlights as the principal of an astroturf anti-abortion website.

Make sense to you?

ADDED: In addition to Mrozek, at least four other of The Women make their livings at least in part from anti-choice activities/careers.

Faye Sonier

Faye joined The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada as Legal Counsel. She practices constitutional and human rights law, with a special focus on freedom of religion and sanctity of human life issues.

Deborah Mullan

In March she finally secured a very part-time job as the office manager for the Victoria Right to Life Society.

Natalie Hudson Sonnen

Natalie is now the executive director of LifeCanada, a national pro-life organization based out of Ottawa.

Véronique Bergeron

Currently employed as an assistant to a federal Member of Parliament, Véronique Bergeron is also teaches biomedical ethics to Masters students at St-Paul University in Ottawa.

That MP would be anti-choice Pierre Lemieux and St-Paul University is the pontifical arm of the University of Ottawa.

While bloggers at DAMMIT JANET! are not 'anonymous' as charged, but rather pseudonymous with long-established online personae, not a single one of us makes a nickel from our pro-choice writing and activism.

Your Assignment, Should You Choose to Accept

Loyal DAMMIT JANET! readers, I have an assignment for you today.

I want you to send these two links to your cranky Uncle Bob and your tax-hating Cousin Laura and ask them if they are OK with this spending by the CONtempt Party government.

Item 1: Secret spending on consultants.

A Star investigation has found 90 per cent of the $2.4 billion paid out in the past decade comes with no description of the work done — and more than a dozen departments refuse to provide details when pressed.

Item 2: Economic Action Scam.

Those TV ads are still airing more than six weeks after the budget was read in Parliament.

Liberal MP Scott Brison said his research shows each single ad spot on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada is costing taxpayers about $95,000.

That's enough to pay the federal contribution toward 32 summer student jobs for the season, said Brison.

According the government's annual advertising reports and recent cabinet approvals, the Conservatives have spent at least $113 million on EAP-specific ads since 2009.

And that's not even counting the $3.1 billion missing in anti-terror spending, the egregious costs of War of 1812 commemorations, F-35 and other military boondoggles. Et fucking cetera.

If your fiscally conservative relllies start blubbering about AdScam, show them this.

[Sheila Fraser] found that $100 million was paid to a variety of communications agencies in the form of fees and commissions and said the program was basically designed to generate commissions for these companies rather than to produce any benefit for Canadians.

So. A hundred million dollars in AdScam brought down a government. Wanton and secretive misuse of BILLIONS of our money creates nary a blip in the Canadian consciousness.

I don't understand. Do you?

Image sources.

Woody's New Wank

SHOCKING NEWS! Pro-choice group refuses to sign on to latest anti-abortion stalking horse gambit!

Woody's got a brand-new wank. And guess what? It's just like the old wank.

Woodworth said he reached out to Joyce Arthur, the executive director of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, for support on the motion. The group is a prominent national pro-choice organization.

Woodworth said he wrote to the group in January with the specific wording of the motion: “That the Parliament of Canada declare that the equal worth and dignity of everyone must be recognized by Canadian law based on their inherent nature as a human being.”

He said Arthur wrote back the next day, and that he then responded and then received no further response from ARCC.

Arthur said she and her group declined Woodworth’s request because they felt it would lead to giving rights to a fetus, which would have dangerous consequences for pregnant mothers.

“He doesn’t seem to recognize that at all,” said Arthur. “When I bring up women’s rights over and over again, he thinks it’s some sort of sideshow. He doesn’t really get the issue, so what’s the point of talking about it with him?”

Woodworth said in a media release that he has "regretfully concluded" the ARCC "simply refuses to affirm human equality."

"We think the ulterior motive is that he's trying to include fetuses in the definition of 'everyone,'" Arthur said.

Ayup. Seems so.

We don't need to woman the barricades just yet. After the trouncing #M312 took last fall, he may have difficulty finding another kamikazi MP to co-sponsor this latest piece of bullshit.

Also, he'll have to wait until the next federal election, by which time if the good people of Kitchener Centre come to their senses, Woody will be wanking all on his lonely.

If you've got ten minutes to waste, listen to this radio interview, in which Woody seems genuinely surprised that ARCC didn't leap at the chance to join in fucking over Canadian women.

Is he really that much of a moran? Who the hell did he think was behind the campaign to Crush Motion 312?

ADDED BONUS: Seems Woody has memory-holed his genius analogy about abortion and ballooning. Pity that. But I found a thorough and fun fisking of it that really captures the lunacy.

Protest against Gendercide: The Perfect Opportunity to Inculcate Misogyny in Children

The annual March for Lies is scheduled for this Thursday, May 9. It is always held on a weekday so that hundreds of Catholic schoolchildren can be bussed in for an educational day of indoctrination in misogyny.

Read what Amanda Watson, former Catholic student and participant, has to say about the event.

A year ago, when a young girl, no more than 16 years old, extended a sign to block my path that read, “Maybe if you kept your legs shut you wouldn’t need an abortion,” I decided to take myself home.

Awww, isn't that sweet? Encouraging witless young women to attack other women on a subject about which they know nothing.

But hey, when your agenda is race-baiting or gender-baiting, it is Standard Operating Procedure to get a member of the targetted group to lead the hate-filled chants.

Thus, female children are the perfect messengers, especially since the theme of this year's bunfest is 'gendercide'. Yep, aka Motion 408, or the aborted Warawa's Wank.

Watson notes that this year the counter-demonstrators plan to keep silent. There is no arguing with these poor brainwashed kids, so they will quietly stand in protest.

Even more, the rage and pain of pro-choicers should be respected as we watch a generation of children learn to slut-shame fellow women, particularly via the dozens of women at the front of the march, wearing oversized yellow sandwich boards with the shaming words, “I regret my abortion.”

The kids learn their lessons well. This is how last year's event ended for our reporter.

As I scuffed through the grass from Parliament Hill, eyes swelling with tears, I stared at my feet so I would miss the poster displays of mangled fetuses and hordes of chanting students, some waving malicious signs my way. A girl yelled “Slut!” in my direction and tears spilled down my cheeks, not for her, but for the machine that pits women against each other over our freedom to control our bodies.

The irony of using slut-shaming in the service of 'protecting girls' is totally lost on them of course.

All the usual suspects are are on board. Mark Warawa himself, who declined to use his first hard-won opportunity to speak about abortion in the House, will avail himself, funnily enough on March for Lies Day.

The day after the Speaker’s ruling, Warawa deflated expectations when he stood up to give a statement about a talent contest in his Langley, B.C. riding.

The timing wasn’t right, he said Monday.

“Timing is everything, and the time had moved on as far as me speaking on the issue of gendercide,” he said.

“I thought it was more appropriate to deal with something that was important at that day at that time…but I will continue to speak out on the issue of gendercide at appropriate times.“

Warawa will also speak on Parliament Hill Thursday at the pro-life event organized by the nonprofit Campaign Life Coalition.

Of course he will.

Timing is indeed everything. And it's never too early or too late to teach children to attack and judge others.

Catholic parents, I hope you're proud.

Watson's piece seems to have hit at nerve at Gender-Baiting Central, aka ProWomanProLife, wholly-owned and funded subsidiary of Focus on the Family.

The primal ooze...

Yesterday I went to see _2001: A Space Odyssey_ with a friend.

I had forgotten how tedious the first act is, as the primates - most likely nasty chimpanzees and not collaborative Bonobos - become weaponized and discover how to dominate the rival clan by killing their leader.

My companion found that bit quite entertaining; it reminded him of recent carnage - more specifically, the take-over of the Progressive Conservatives by the Reform Party, when Peter MacKay morphed from an insipid PC into a weaponized yet still insignificant, greedy opportunist.

Do you recognize any of the scoundrels?

The ReformaTories haven't evolved much, have they?

Way of the Future: Medical Abortion, Private, Safe, Cheap

This TIME writer has the right idea (my bold).

As both pro-choice and pro-life forces attempt to put Kermit Gosnell to use to argue the moral rectitude of their position, and the jury in his trial continues to deliberate, there is a danger that we will lose sight of what Kermit Gosnell really is — an anachronism.
. . .
Gosnell was a stop of last resort for woman late in their pregnancies. They sought an abortion past the point of fetal viability — a choice illegal in Pennsylvania and throughout the United States. For these women, Gosnell and his ilk are their only option.

But regardless of the outcome of Gosnell’s trial, the need for late trimester abortion is going to disappear. Even surgical abortion will be a thing of the past, as the abortion clinic slowly gives way to pharmaceutical abortion.

I'm not so sanguine that the need for surgical abortion will disappear altogether, but he certainly has an excellent point.

Medical abortion, as we've noted here before, is safe, effective, and much cheaper than surgical abortion. It offers women who want to get the deed over with a quick and private solution.

Which is why the fetus fetishists hate hate hate medical abortion.

What? Give women control over their own reproductive lives?

What? Allow any doctor to prescribe and oversee the process, not just at clinics targetted for harassment?

What? Provide a cheaper alternative to a procedure intended to financially punish wayward women?

Just today, another idiotic law was passed in the Excited States.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican, signed on Wednesday a pro-life bill into law that targets abortion drugs by tightening the regulations governing their distribution, and requiring clinics with such practices to meet the same standards as facilities that perform surgeries.

Because that makes so much sense.

While TIME marches backwards in the US, as we reported earlier, Australia is moving ahead to make medical abortion more available and cheaper.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, made up of medical experts and health economists, recommended listing mifepristone and misoprostol - the two drugs known together as RU486 - for termination of a pregnancy of up to 49 days' gestation.
The committee found the effectiveness of the drugs was similar to that of surgical termination, but was less costly.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek welcomed the committee's recommendation, noting the drug was on the World Health Organisation's list of essential medicines and had been used successfully by tens of millions of women around the world.

She said the committee's recommendation was only a ''first step'' in listing the drug, but added she expected it to be listed ''sooner rather than later''.

''I would expect this process to take a few weeks. I would expect that a decision would be made before the election,'' she said.

Ms Plibersek said her department would need to ensure there was a steady and good quality supply of the drug and reach agreement on price before the government decided whether to list it.

If it was listed on the PBS [Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee], women would pay $36.10 for each of the two pills, while those with concessions would pay only $5.90 per pill. Currently, the drugs cost between $250 and $350, while surgical abortion generally costs between $300 and $500.

Women 'with concessions' -- presumably on some sort of benefits -- would pay about $12.

Which does make total sense, given that Australia also has universal healthcare.

It is in the state's interest to keep costs down, as well as to accommodate the wishes of its people.

So, why the hell is RU486 not approved yet in Canada?

The most common form of medical abortion is called RU-486 (or Mifepristone). . . .To date, RU-486 has not been approved for use in Canada.
. . .
The only form of medical abortion that is available in Canada is a conjunction of methotrexate and misoprostol. Methotrexate is usually given by injection. Misoprostol tablets are placed in the vagina five to seven days after the methotrexate injection is given. It causes the muscles of the uterus to contract, pushing out the contents. In most cases the uterus will be emptied within 24 hours but in about 35 percent of cases, it can take several days or weeks. Pain medication can be used to ease the pain of the cramps, which occur when the pregnancy tissue comes out of the uterus.

RU486 is a better alternative.

So? Canada? Why the hell not approve it?

More evidence of that hidden agenda Harper doesn't have?