22 Minutes hits one out of the park. Go here and click on Avery Adams Election Wrap Up. You’ll be glad you did!
Oh and Stevie here’s the link to the Ikea catalogue.
Archives for October 2008
Anti-Choice – Anti-Truth
Members of the anti-abortion group VoteYesForLife.com are filing a complaint with the FCC over ads they claim are false and misleading. False and misleading. Where have we heard that before? Oh yes Crisis Pregnancy Centres;
* The centers provided false and misleading information about a link between abortion and breast cancer. There is a medical consensus that induced abortion does not cause an increased risk of breast cancer. Despite this consensus, eight centers told the caller that having an abortion would in fact increase her risk. One center said that “all abortion causes an increased risk of breast cancer in later years,” while another told the caller that an abortion would “affect the milk developing in her breasts” and that the risk of breast cancer increased by as much as 80% following an abortion.
* The centers provided false and misleading information about the effect of abortion on future fertility. Abortions in the first trimester, using the most common abortion procedure, do not pose an increased risk of infertility. However, seven centers told the caller that having an abortion could hurt her chances of having children in the future. One center said that damage from abortion could lead to “many miscarriages” or to “permanent damage” so “you wouldn’t be able to carry,” telling the caller that this is “common” and happens “a lot.”
* The centers provided false and misleading information about the mental health effects of abortion. Research shows that significant psychological stress after an abortion is no more common than after birth. However, thirteen centers told the caller that the psychological effects of abortion are severe, long-lasting, and common. One center said that the suicide rate in the year after an abortion “goes up by seven times.” Another center said that post-abortion stress suffered by women having abortions is “much like” that seen in soldiers returning from Vietnam and “is something that anyone who’s had an abortion is sure to suffer from.”
PDF false-and-misleading-health-information
So we know they are coming from a place of truth then.
Here is what Proposition 11 entails
For the second time since 2006, South Dakota voters are being asked to outlaw almost all abortions. A ballot initiative called Initiated Measure 11 would ban the procedure except in cases of rape, incest and a narrow interpretation of the health and life of the woman.
Voters rejected a more restrictive measure in 2006, but polls suggested that South Dakotans would have voted yes if it had included exceptions. A group called Vote Yes for Life soon pushed the new version, which they hope will prevent more than 700 abortions a year and produce the case that will overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion nationwide.
The ads to which the anti-choice group objects states that;
“These claims are being made, almost unbelievably, that the government will decide when a woman needs an abortion, and not her physician,” said Aberdeen lawyer Rory King, who helped to draft the initiated measure. “We object strenuously to and oppose this deceitful advertising.”
AL
and here is a doctor who specializes in high risk pregnancy care;
Marvin Buehner, a pro-choice Rapid City doctor who specializes in high-risk pregnancies, said the law “would amount to a total ban.”
“If there’s a risk of a Class 4 felony if I don’t meet the ambiguous standard of ‘serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily organ or system,’ there’s no way I would consider doing an abortion for health reasons,” Buehner said. “This represents incredible government interference in the practice of medicine.”
One can’t help but feel that their real objection is to people knowing the truth.
More on Prop. 11 here: http://www.sdhealthyfamilies.org/
Dion Steps Down
As was expected Dion stepped down as Liberal leader today.
Dion endured smears from the beginning. About his ability to converse in English, his light frame, his backpack and even his ability to answer incredibly poorly worded questions. Conservative ads consistently showed Dion as weak and ineffectual, it was the modern day equivalent of the big dumb bully kicking sand in the face of the nerd.
Though not a Liberal supporter I do think Dion is a man of honour and integrity. And while I don’t necessarily support his policies I do believe he has a great respect for both the country and the environment. In that he showed himself head and shoulders above Harper.
What may be the unkindest cut of all is that so much of the campaign to oust him came from within his own party. He was lured into the shadowy corners of the Big Tent and shived in the back.
John Manley, seen as a possible successor was quoted as saying, “If I were to be critical of Stephane, I think he took the party in a direction where it was fighting in a very crowded field for too few votes on the left side of the spectrum and that’s not where you win elections” The Star
This would seem indicative that the Libs have decided to follow the Conservatives on the track to the right wing fringes. With the majority of Canadians who did vote voting in support of ‘progressive’ parties, and so many choosing to abstain from voting, one wonders what makes them believe this move to conservatism is something the Canadian public wants. After all previous liberal governments have shown that campaigning from the left has served them well.
A move to a right wing agenda would of course be a move away from Dion’s plans for environmental protections and the Greens already represent right wing market based environmentalists. It will be interesting to see where on the political spectrum the Liberal power brokers place the party.
Shortly before the election, in response to Harper’s taunts to the other leaders about quitting if they were not elected as PM, Dion said, “I am not a quitter”. I don’t believe he is. It is too bad though that his party quit him.
I wish Mr Dion well in his future endeavours.
2008 Blog Action Day: Poverty
With last night’s election results revealing another NeoCon minority government, it seems fitting somehow that today is Blog Action Day ’08 A call to action for bloggers to raise awareness on issues of poverty.
During the campaign Make Poverty History asked the leaders what they would do about poverty both home and abroad, not surprisingly “All of them except Conservative leader Stephen Harper agreed to answer our questions about their plans to fight poverty.” There is a take action section here to ask Harper what he plans to do about poverty. I think we can well guess his answer though.
From the Campaign 2000 sidebar “On November 24, 1989, the House of Commons unanimously passed a resolution to seek to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000.”
Well here we are in the year 2008 and child poverty if anything has increased. Incomes have been steadily eroded by regressive right wing policies. The constant cutting of social safety nets to provide funds to corporations that then take the money and run to other countries where workers are cheaper, have fewer or no rights and are often forced into labour, has resulted in more and more families making the choice between paying the rent and buying groceries. Between paying utilities or getting the kids new shoes/coats/birthday presents. There is no money for lessons or activities, no money for special treats, no trips. Children in poverty grow up in a war zone. The class war. The war no one speaks of unless the poor get a little rowdy and call into question the policies that have created a system where the boots of the few rest on the backs of the many, including so many children. So called “think tanks” like the Frasier Institute create formulae to determine that you only live in poverty if you are further than 500 miles from a shelter and there is no dumpster from which you can eat.
Deceit and manipulation has convinced that masses that social programs are too costly and any move toward *gasp* socialism would bankrupt the country/world economy. Yet if you look around after decades of rampant unfettered capitalism and corporate welfare the world economies are in collapse and governments are resorting to enormous amounts of socialist cash infusion into the banking industry to try to provide a solution to a world wide depression. No where near the amount of money spent on this fiasco could have provided decent housing, health care, eliminated, or vastly decreased, child poverty And proper regulations surrounding the treatment of workers and the expectations of corporations to keep jobs in Canada would have resulted in good jobs and plenty of cash influx into the economy. Yet instead we are told to tighten our belts while CEO’s reap obscene amounts of money even in a crashing economy.
If we as a country truly believe that it is acceptable that a child goes hungry while corporations that have no concern for or loyalty to our country or our citizens receive 50 billion dollars in tax cuts. If we as a country truly believe it is ok for people to live on the street while banks receive infusions of cash to prop up the obvious and glaring failures of a capitalist corportocracy. If we as a country truly believe it is more important to provide CEOs with multiple homes while others have no home or are in danger of losing theirs with just one missed day of work, then we have well and truly lost our humanity.
Conservatives hit New Low
Who is putting what on kids shows? I asked.
So I go look the Conservatools have a Dion attack ad on in the middle of Fairly Odd Parents. Great teach the kids that making fun and bullying are good things to do. Just when you thought they had reached the depths they plumb lower.
unbelieveable.
Caption Fun
Sarah Palin has plenty of people putting words in her mouth, but that doesn’t mean we can’t too!
What do you envision the caption under the picture to read?
Photo Credit: THe Guardian
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