The Walk-Back Begins

On that Motherhood Steve maternal health thingy.

Or maybe we should call it a flip-flop.

Yesterday:

“It does not deal in any way, shape or form with family planning,” Mr. Cannon said about the initiative when he met with the committee. “Indeed, the purpose of this is to be able to save lives.”

Today:

“The government’s position is clear,” the Prime Minister said. “I think the minister responded – the government is seeking to get the G8 countries to act to save lives, mothers and children, throughout the world.

“We are not closing doors against any options including contraception. But we do not want a debate here or elsewhere on abortion.”

Gee, what do you think prompted Stevie Peevie to 'clarify' something that was perfectly clear out of the mouths of Bev Odious and Lawrence LooseCannon?

The fact that this idiocy would have made Canada look like a buffoon among G8 members?

Maybe the political drubbing the notion was attracting?

Or maybe the spanking it took in today's NattyPo, of all places?

Ah, I've got it. Harper doesn't want to be associated with this guy.

Because, you know, some wag with PhotoShop skills (hint hint) might do this to a photo of Harpo.

Gastropods Unite!

Go read Dr Dawg. He's on top of current events in the House of Commons. Her Majesty's loyal Opposition has roused itself from a 14 week slumber (okay, part of that was Stevie Peevie's Prorogation delay tactic). The speaker must respond to the question: Shall Parliamentary supremacy be upheld?

And also: Kady O'Malley updates directly from the warzone.

Oh and could someone run over to the Manning Centre for the Subversion Study of Democracy or whatever it's called to poke Captain Canada Stephen Taylor? I hear today's lunch in the cafeteria is the Gastropods All-you-can-eat Buffet; it seems that Taylor is known for a trademark thrust-and-parry with his snail fork. He might want to know what's happening in Parliament instead of waiting for the Coles Notes version from Dimitri Soudas.

- / - / -

fern hill piles on: W00t!!!!!!!11 I was watching at Kady's and the CAPP Facebook wall.

If you're feeling a little euphoric -- as I am -- by this stunning display of backbone on the part of the Opposition, now might be a good time to celebrate by sending some money to the totally grassroots group Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper, or CRUSH, here.

One of the organizers just wrote on the CAPP wall:

This Saturday, in the Insight section of the Toronto Star, our ad will appear. It is the largest ad we could afford in the largest circulated paper....

Without all your faith and support this ad would not have happened. Your kind words in your messages are touching and give us more energy. The first small battle has been won but the war is far from over. We can do this...together.

As one donor wrote to Billy Nobels, "I cannot trust my government but I am trusting a complete stranger with my $20.00 donation".

If It's Lives We Want to Save

So now we know why Motherhood Steve's maternal health initiative doesn't include family planning, let alone abortion.

"It does not deal in any way, shape or form with family planning. Indeed, the purpose of this is to be able to save lives," Mr. Cannon told the Foreign Affairs committee.

Family planning and saving women's and children's lives cannot be separated as anyone with a functioning brain and no rightwing religious base to appease knows. But instead of posting a bunch of sciency-facty links proving that, let's instead look at one of the countries where the new and (dis)improved maternal health initiative may be called on to operate.

Kenya is trying to wrangle itself a new constitution. It's not going that well. Old political factions still exist and, to make things worse, the church stepped in to stamp its feet over the possibility of abortion being allowed.

An op-ed today by Isaiah Esipisu is titled If it’s lives we want to save, let’s make abortion legal.

Issues touching on sex are treated discreetly, especially in Africa. People rarely want to talk about sex in public, lest they sound immoral.

The same applies to abortion. Government officials, church leaders, and nearly all Kenyans know well that it takes place in the backstreet under quacks.

They know of women who have died procuring an abortion unsafely, or some who have suffered the negative consequences of abortion. But they are afraid to talk about it in public, lest they sound immoral.

But, just like our teenagers usually discover sex on their own, studies from some African countries indicate that nearly 90 per cent of teenage girls know at least one crude method of procuring an abortion — a method they discovered on their own.

And they rarely discuss it with their elders or their parents, lest they sound immoral.

Expanding the scope for safe abortion services remains a delicate one. If any policy-maker supported the proposal of including it in the Constitution, their political opponents would definitely use it as a campaign tool to question their morality.

During the just-concluded East, Central and Southern African Health Ministers’ Conference in Kampala, Kenya’s director of medical services made it clear that Kenya was not going to allow abortion services to be conducted in any of the health centres, unless the life of the mother was in danger.

The subject is unsafe abortion and there are some gory details I'll spare you. Let's get to the numbers:

According to government estimates, more than 860 women procured unsafe abortions yesterday, and a similar number will do it again today, and again tomorrow. In short, 316,560 abortions are procured unsafely every year, where 20,000 of the women end up in hospital beds, while 2,600 of them die.

This costs the country’s health systems an estimated Sh18 million every year.

And now for the facty-sciency studies:

Evidence from countries with progressive safe abortion laws indicate that appropriate laws, policies and services can eliminate deaths and injuries.

South Africa is a good example, where even midwives are allowed to offer the services on demand, especially if the pregnancies are 12 weeks old or less.

As a result, government records indicate that the country has reduced the maternal mortality rates due to unsafe abortion by 91 per cent since 1997, when the law was passed.

Abortion is lawful in Ghana, if the pregnancy is a result of rape, defilement or incest. It is also allowed if continued pregnancy would put the woman at risk, or where the child is likely to develop an abnormality. The same applies in Ethiopia and Zambia.

Maternal mortality in these countries due to unsafe abortions has reduced. Kenya may need to borrow a leaf and address abortion, not immorality.

Ah, I can hear Bev Odious and Lawrence LooseCannon now: 'What does this guy know? We in the developed world know what's good for these poor people and that's what they're going to get, even if we have to shove it down their throats.'

Oh. Wait. I'm wrong. That's what LifeShite said about Ignatieff's demand that the initiative address abortion.

And, if safe abortion saves lives, how many more would be saved by offering family planning so that women who don't want to get pregnant can take sensible measures to avoid it?

No Wonder Gays Want to Marry

The issue of equal marriage and I first met in the early 80s. I had a brief but mad crush on a guy in one of my classes who, natch, turned out to be gay. We became best friends though and still are.

Soon after he outed himself to me, he outed himself to the world and got involved in gay activism.

Early 80s. 'Gay plague'. They didn't even know what it was yet.

Several of my pal's friends and acquaintances got sick. And died.

And some died alone. Or surrounded by family members they hadn't spoken to in decades. Some had end-of-life and funeral arrangements made by loathed and loathing relatives.

Because, you see, when you are very sick, hospitals will allow only 'family members' in to see you. And a partner, no matter of how long standing, is not technically 'family' unless you've got that piece of paper saying your union has been sanctioned by the state.

And since then -- as now -- there are vicious homophobes in all walks of life, some sick people and their partners were subjected to smirking cruelty by hospital staff who took this delightful opportunity to bash a gay one more time and exclude his partner from his death bed.

Further cruelties were on offer in all subsequent legalities: funerals, wills, child custody, adoption. (Though not many of my pal's young friends had children.)

So, when my sweetie got bad heart news a few years ago, then more bad heart news a little later, all this came back to me.

We weren't married. And we didn't live together, so did not technically qualify as common-law partners.

Medicine has changed a lot since the 80s. It's much less formal now. When I go with sweetie to an appointment, I'm waved into the consultation room too as a matter of course. They assume we're partners or don't care.

But still, we had no legal connection to each other. So we started talking about getting hitched. In 2006, telling nobody beforehand except for the two friends we brought as witnesses, we slunk off to City Hall and did the deed. (Man, was his mother pissed! But then, she was the main reason we eloped, so she couldn't make a big damn deal out of a wedding.)

In my research into the pro's and con's of marriage, I had run into some details to do with money, taxes, pensions, and whatnot. None of this interested or affected either of us much. It seemed that the only change was that now we have to put the other's first name, SIN, and net (?) income on our tax returns.

I do my own taxes, but sweetie uses an accountant. A couple of times, the accountant has transferred to me charitable donations sweetie made and I've saved a few bucks, which of course I use to take us out to dinner.

Sweetie just phoned. He's at the accountant's who has had a fast look at the paperwork. Sweetie had a bad year financially last year. Me, about the same as usual.

Upshot: I get to claim him as some kind of dependent and get a WHACK of dough back.

Marriage -- Come for the sickness and death privileges. Stay for the financial benefits.

Selling the sizzle cuz the steak is putrid.

Yesterday's blogpost was written about heterosexual pedophile Catholic priests.

Today, it's all about the Vatican Taliban cranking up its propaganda machine.

First, go watch "Catholics Come Home" advert at Feminist christian socialist and read what Luna has to say. She nailguns the propagandists to the wall.

Then, consider Pope Maledict's dilemma regarding the Legion of Christ:

As sex abuse scandals rock the Vatican, the results of an investigation into a rich, ultra-conservative and secretive Roman Catholic order founded by a priest accused of pedophilia and incest are due to be filed in Rome on Monday.The sordid story of the Legion of Christ, whose late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, was a close ally of Pope John Paul II before being forcibly retired by the Vatican in 2006, is a microcosm of the crisis currently enveloping the church.

Rich and ultra-conservative. Key words. Do you think a poor and progressive faith movement within the Catholic Church would have been allowed to thrive? Would its leader have been praised and anointed by the previous pope?

"Maciel was a sexual criminal of epic proportions who gained the trust of John Paul II and created a movement that is as close to a cult as anything we've seen in the church," said author Jason Berry, one of two reporters who broke the Maciel story in 1997 [...]

Interviews with former members of the Legion and Regnum Christi paint a chilling picture of Maciel as a sociopathic master salesman who knew how to charm the upper echelon at the Vatican as well as enlist the wealthy and elite to his fast-growing order, all while using cult-like techniques. Two of the most visible priests in America are Father Thomas Williams, a movie-star-handsome CBS News analyst, and Father Jonathan Morris, who is sometimes referred to as "Father Knows Best" on the Fox News Channel. They belong to the Legion of Christ but rarely identify themselves as such on camera.

"Dan Brown got the wrong group," said Genevieve Kineke, an orthodox Catholic who was a member of Regnum Christi, the legion's lay movement, from 1992 to 2000 and writes a blog about her experiences. "The Legion of Christ is the scary cult embedded in the bosom of the mother church. Not Opus Dei." [...]

That misuse of sex and power was an undercurrent that helped fuel the growth of the order, according to several former members of the Legion and Regnum Christi. "Maciel always told me to recruit the most handsome boys from the best families," said Vaca. "They were trained to approach rich women. I'm not saying they had sexual relationships with these women but they did know how to charm them." Kineke and others also said Legion priests are notoriously successful in winning over women to the church.

"They are spiritual seducers," said another former Regnum Christi member. "They are the only priests I've seen who have swept people off their feet. These men woo women because they want access to our children and our husbands' wallets."

That is very strong language from someone who will be monitoring how the Vatican Taliban deals with the findings of the investigation into the Legion. More here about that, and also here.

What kind of reception did Maciel receive in heaven when he died? Surely someone who masterminded such a MASSIVE grift in the name of Jesus deserves to be seated to the right of Lucifer? Oh ... wait.

'We don't execute victims' - CORRECTED

By a narrow margin, legislators in South Carolina have decided NOT to ban abortion coverage under state insurance in cases of rape, incest, or threat to incubator's life.

The original draft of the $5.1 billion spending plan would have banned state insurance from covering any abortion procedure, but Democrats pushed for the change during an emotional floor debate. The measure narrowly passed by a 57-54 vote.

The emotional debate included an argument that all bay-beez are Gord's gift.

And this pretzelly-twister:

"We live in a civilized society," argued Rep. Greg Delleney, R-Chester. "We do not kill children for what their fathers do. We don't execute victims. That's all we're saying: The state insurance plan shouldn't pay to execute victims."

No, we just force them to carry their rapist's child to term. Or their father's.

Or both.

And maybe die in the attempt.

Wait. There seems to have been a compassionate voice in the house.

But it was Rep. Lester Branham, D-Florence and a retired minister, who seemed to sway lawmakers in his hushed tone during a trip to the podium.

"Some things are put on God's shoulders that are not God's. They're our sins, our crimes," Branham said. "That act of impregnating a girl against her will is not a gift of God. It's a crime."

(Read more about the squirrelly state of South Carolina as seen by deBeauxOs.)

CORRECTION: The source I quoted yesterday has issued a retraction. (emphasis mine)

Yesterday, TheState.com reported that South Carolina lawmakers in Columbia rejected a proposed ban on abortions in their health plan in every case except when a mother’s life is in danger. However, that information was incorrect and we apologize for repeating it.

According to numerous reports, South Carolina lawmakers accepted the ban for abortions to be covered in their health care plan. Lawmakers specifically pointed out that abortions should be covered in cases of rape and incest to give women who become pregnant in those situations the choice. However, the vote approved the plan without concessions for rape and incest victims by a 57-54 margin.

Sorry about that. Should have known better. There is NO compassion in South Carolina.

It's okay if you're a heterosexual pedophile Catholic priest.

Once more, the Vatican Taliban is under scrutiny for implicitely condoning child sexual abuse.

JJ at unrepentant old hippie has been writing and posting links to news items about Pope Maledict and how he may have played a role in facilitating a pedophile priest's access to children. As a German cardinal he wrote in 2001 a church directive instructing bishops to keep abuse cases "confidential". Decades of dissembling about the issue of pedophile priests has become the standard procedure, not for protecting Catholic children, but for saving the Church from public embarassment.

These cases usually come to light and provoke a public outcry when the victims are boys, since this highlights hypocrisy regarding two aspects of Church doctrine: obligatory clerical celibacy and edicts against homosexuality.

In Ireland, where MASSIVE numbers of girls and young women as well as boys were sexually assaulted by priests, powerful, upper-echelon clergy have refused to accept accountability for their actions. For example:

Ireland's senior Roman Catholic, Cardinal Sean Brady, said Monday he would not resign despite admitting he helped the church collect evidence against a child-molesting priest — and never told police about the crimes.

Brady, as a priest and Vatican-trained canon lawyer in 1975, said he interviewed two children about the abuse they suffered at the hands of the Rev. Brendan Smyth. He said both children were required to sign oaths promising not to tell anyone outside the church of their allegations.

Smyth went on to molest and rape scores of other children in Ireland, Britain and the United States before British authorities in neighboring Northern Ireland demanded his arrest in 1994. The Irish government of the day collapsed amid acrimony over why Smyth had not been extradited to Belfast.

Brady admitted his role in gathering evidence against Smyth because he has been named as a defendant in a Dublin lawsuit filed by one of Smyth's victims. Lawyers in that case unearthed records of Brady's involvement in gathering testimony from two Irish victims who said they were abused by Smyth — one a 10-year-old altar boy, the other a 14-year-old girl — around 1970.

Brady said it was the responsibility of his diocesan bishop, as well as the leader of Smyth's separate Catholic order of priests, to tell police. But he said the church didn't do this because of "a culture of silence about this, a culture of secrecy."

"Yes, I knew that these were crimes," Brady said. "But I did not feel that it was my responsibility to denounce the actions of Brendan Smyth to the police. Now I know with hindsight that I should have done more, but I thought at the time I was doing what I was required to do."

Things have reached the tipping point in Ireland. On one hand, the Catholic Church ferociously lobbies against contraception, birth control and abortion and bleats piously about the unborn. On the other, it has in deeds been complicit in allowing thousands of children to be physically and sexually exploited and damaged.

From the Irish Times:

The other key reason people focus on the church and its appalling record of child abuse and cover-up is, of course, that this organisation retains central power over the running of our education system, through which it maintains contact with the vast majority of children in the country.

Take Bishop Jones, for example. He directly appoints the chair of the boards of management in virtually every school in his diocese of Elphin, which spreads from Athlone northwards across Roscommon and Sligo. He has a veto over the appointment of each and every other member of the boards. He likewise chooses the interview boards for each teacher in the schools. And, last but not least, he is in charge of the ethos of his schools, which means that he controls the kind of instruction given to the children in what is right and what is wrong.

Given the views of Bishop Jones that we should cease focusing on the church and its failure to protect children against serial rapists like Brendan Smyth, it is entirely reasonable for the parents of children in the Elphin diocese (and elsewhere) to ask whether he is a suitable person to exercise such influence over the lives of thousands of youngsters through his control of the schools in his area.

In the religious world, people can vote with their feet and decide for themselves what, if any, church they wish to be part of, and how and when they wish to worship. That is no one’s business but their own.

In the secular world, however, it is our clear duty as citizens to question whether a religious organisation whose Irish leader so palpably failed to protect children from a rapist should have any role whatsoever in the governance of our schools. It is a recurrent question. It will arise again and again as each scandal of church cover-up emerges.

The Irish State and Government can allow this poison to ooze out gradually, but relentlessly. Or it can intervene and engage in the now desperately needed process of extending the Murphy Commission inquiry process to each bishop and diocese in the State.

In Canada, adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of priests have created organizations that provide mutual support and challenge the institutional denials of the Catholic Church, who refuse to acknowledge that clergy engaged in criminal actions. This is the experience of one member - it is not unusual or rare, as last year's news item about former priest Charles Sylvestre in Ontario reveals.

***Un grand merci to CC's blogpost That's gonna leave a mark, which directed us to the opinion piece in the Irish Times.***

My sweetie's letter to the Hon. Frank

Dear Mr. Iacobucci,

Long time listener . . . first-time caller . . .

Please reconsider joining in the project to help the Harper Conservatives delay Parliament's access to documents related to Canada's policies and actions concerning Afghans captured and detained by Canadian troops since 2001.

What needs to be removed/redacted from those documents is presumably going to be code words, common practices, names of clandestine informants, locations of stashes/caches, and plans for the future.

You are not well suited to this work - smart as you no doubt are, you will have a wastefully steep learning curve for a function which is largely mechanical.

In general, something which is in the past is most likely no longer a source of abuse or threat. Military secrets are sensitive as they may refer to ongoing or future projects. The detainee policies in question have been changed. What a majority of the members of the highest authority in Canada seek is the documentation of responsibility for what may prove to be a past injustice. Investigations of responsibility for criminal behavior of the sort alleged constitutes no sort of threat to this nation. If we were to find and punish a past injustice our pride and reputation should improve. I thought that that was what Canadians do.

Canada's pride and confidence must depend upon adherence to international conventions or we will have nothing worth protecting. We should expose the chain of 'players' and events which has led to this hubbub and cease to allow a few individuals' fear of retribution do further damage to our democracy.

I fear that you are being invited to act as a shill for venal purposes. I believe that your involvement has been sought not because you would be effective at the practicalities of the enterprise but rather, because your shining reputation will obscure the fact that the job should not be done.

If you want to be heard, contact info here.

ReformaTories: 'Nollige Bad'

Key word quietly.

The Conservative government is quietly cutting funding to hundreds of community groups and even hospitals that provide free Internet access to Canadians who might not otherwise have a chance to get online.

This will save pennies, relatively. But punishes job-seekers, homework-doers, poor people, and, weirdly, rural citizens.

This story needs to travel, as they say, far and wide. It speaks volumes about the ReformaTory mindset.