New! Improved Whingening Power! Same Great Taste!

Since being disappointed that the 'trailer' being touted wasn't for another cheesy conservative Christian horror film, I became curious as to whether the perpetrators of the 'new' Abortion Caravan, "Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform" (Refoooooormmmm!) had any connections to Margaret Somerville. Bio-ethicist Dr. Somerville is the go-to source for Christian religious anti-choicers propping up the wrongitywrongwrongwrongness of abortion.

Poking at their site, it became apparent that while Dr. Somerville is not obviously linked to this 'bioethical' group, this fresh faced organization is staffed as a lesser satellite of the American (and original) Centre for Bio-ethical Reform (Reeeefoooooormmmm!) The penny bios of the Canadian satellite staff are weighted heavily with young campus veterans from the University of Calgary anti-abortion crusades and other Canadian university venues.  There is a strong inference of Catholic as well as evangelical Protestant support. The bios of the staffers emphasize how they "became convicted", always a dogwhistle for the conservative religious.  The site bluntly equates abortion with SIN and is trolling for religious converts in its encouragements.

I recommend giving the site a good read just to know where a lot of the tactics orginate, although possibly with an alcoholic beverage or five.  I'm preeettty sure there's a drinking game to be had on their 'publications' link page and their 'projects' page maps out what tactics they're using, which are wholecloth franchised from an American mothership.  I had an 'aha' moment when I discovered that I personally ran afoul of their martyred 'Choice Chain' protocol cluttering the sidewalks of all corners of a busy intersection in downtown Calgary during Stampede. These are also the same folks behind the carnage postcards gleefully stuffed into Canadian mailboxes.

I'd like to be a fly on the wall when the mothership project for picketing churches judged lacking 'true Christianity' shows up at a target. Especially if it pits Catholics against Protestants and vice versa.  What about synagogues and mosques as targets? Wiccans?  It's so very Westboro Baptist continium.

Their endorsement links page is also educational, in showing who really really really likes them and why. All Catholic and evangelical anti-abortionist testimonials to the saintliness of the CCBR staff; go figure. My favorite is Jeff Scott: 'Pastor of Young Adults, Singles and Sports, Metropolitan Bible Church'.  Sadly, I don't think he means sports the way I initially read his title.

Their videos page strikes me as the 'new' media generation approach they seem to be hinging the latest campaign on.  A mini-Youtube centre with a slant of martyrdom and fervent effort to wrap themselves in the human rights cloak.  They're all over dramatic music (which part of me finds annoying because I am a fan of the 'incidental music' genre), surgical close-ups out of context, etc. bring slightly better production quality to the Fallacy of Appeal to Emotion.

The darkly ironic thing is, their mothership has an abortion facts page that informs us how minimal abortions are after 9-12 weeks gestation, but that (somewhat outdated) reality impinges not on their stance.  They're aiming for conception as the start and end point.  You have to give them points for honest agenda.

The vids also clearly show the American mothership's presence and origination of the 'edgy young' tactics, going back years, so they're pretty much admitting this isn't new, it's re-packaging by a new marketing firm in an effort to up dismal sales, facts be damned.

Speaking of the mothership, you can tell I toddled over to their site.  I advise you right now, many of the tabs open into a 'horrific' abortion video autostarting...and then looping.  It's pretty much Christian Hellhouse meets out of context medical footage. When and if you wade through that, you find them mostly excusing using bloody pictures because 'Hey, it works for those tragedies we're equating ourselves with so ergo sum, it'll work for us because we've told you we're the same as those'. ...and other apologetics. It was founded by former GOP politician from the Reagan era, Gregg Cunningham, and now hosts the free speech of he and his like minded colleagues. Note the Canadian crossover in staff.

There is another gossipy irony in that, despite their aims, CBR are derided on the 'net by the Army of God's Dan Holman as being too pacifistic in their unwillingness to commit violence and too willing to sue others who don't want to pay copyright on Cunningham's galleries of photos used on all the trucks etc. (the claim is, as unlegimitately sourced as it is, that he paid an abortionist to photograph surgical remains).  I suppose there's a morbid comfort that CBR settles for psychological shock and awe.

PS: Did anyone else know there is an analogue of Facebook called Prolifebook?

The Pro-Liars Are Eating Their Own

I just lurve this shit.

From today's LifeShite:

Ohio congressman Tim Ryan is digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole when it comes to his relationship with the pro-life movement. The former darling of the pro-life community has come full circle and is not refusing to take a firm pro-life stance and is supporting abortion in health care.

Ryan was initially elected as an Ohio congressman who was one of the rare pro-life Democrats in the Democratic Party. His willingness to stick his neck out earned him accolades, endorsements, and a seat at the leadership table of pro-life groups.

As LifeNews.com previously profiled, Ryan got himself kicked off the advisory board of Democrats for Life of America.

Between his pro-abortion voting record and his insistence on funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business in a warped version of a pro-woman, pro-life bill he had worked on for the pro-life Democrats group, Ryan increasingly alienated himself from pro-life advocates.

Now, Ryan is earning the scorn of pro-life advocates for claiming that a new amendment in the House version of the government-run health care bill that funds abortions is a "common ground" abortion effort.

For a saner more balanced view, check out Cristina Page at RH Reality Check (emphasis mine):

Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH) is, in many ways, a typical pro-life American. He opposes abortion and, because of that, supports every effort to prevent the need for it. Just like most pro-life Americans, Ryan supports contraception -- primarily because it is the most effective way to prevent unintended pregnancy, and thereby abortion. And yet because of this, Ryan no longer qualifies as "pro-life." He was recently banished from the board of a national pro-life group he served on for four years. Ryan, in return, has turned vocal. He's leading the call for common ground and pragmatism, and is rallying the no longer silent majority of pro-lifers who support contraception. And he is provocatively trying to fight what he views as an unrepresentative slice of pro-lifers, those who can't bring themselves to support contraception. "The new fault line," says Ryan, "is not between pro-life and pro-choice people. It's within the pro-life community. The question now is: "are you pro-life and pro-contraception, therefore trying to reduce the need for abortions, or are you pro-life and against contraception and you hope that people's lives improve just by hoping it, wishing it so."

Ryan is committed to preventing abortion so much so that he, unlike every other pro-life legislator in Congress, spent the last few years working to identify the policies proven to reduce the need for abortion. This work, which he undertook with The Third Way, a center-left think tank, resulted in the "Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act." It's also called the Ryan-DeLauro bill, named for him and his co-sponsor Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT.) As thanks for his outspoken leadership in trying to make abortion less prevalent, Congressman Ryan was removed from the board of Democrats for Life of America, and with it, disowned by the pro-life movement at large. Pro-life publications have taken to qualifying his pro-life status as "allegedly" pro-life or referring to him as someone "who claims to be" pro-life. Because of his support of prevention in 2007-2008 congressional session, Ryan received a "0" rating from National Right to Life Committee. According to the pro-life establishment's new standards, his support for prevention means he no longer qualifies as "pro-life." And that means very few pro-life Americans will either.

It may come as a shock to most pro-life Americans, but there's not one pro-life group in the United States that supports contraception. Rather, many lead campaigns against contraception. As Congressman Ryan explained, "I think the pro-life groups are finding themselves further and further removed from the mainstream; they're on the fringe of this debate." Considering that the average woman spends 23 years of her life trying not to get pregnant, the anti-contraception approach depends on a scourge of sexless marriages or a lot of wishful thinking.

As if anyone needed any further evidence that the anti-choicers are not ALL ABOUT THE BAYBEEZ, but really ALL ABOUT SLUTTY WOMEN, I'll say it again: Not one pro-life group supports contraception.

As I've said before, pro-choicers already occupy the common ground.

Whereas the pro-liars are increasingly to found on the fringe, wanking to medieval delusions.