Speak your mind even if your voice shakes
George Carlin was never one to shy away from controversy. As a lover of comedy I have come to feel almost as if I know him, yet I’ve never even been to a show. I will miss him greatly. Sincere condolences to his family.
Here are some videos showing George talking about some of my favorite subjects.
Religion
Abortion
and of course the Seven Words
Dateline Romania: 11 year old girl raped by her uncle is refused an abortion.
Now she not only must suffer the indignity committed upon her young body by a predator, she is further raped by the system which is forcing her to carry the pregnancy to term.
No doubt according to some she just should have said no and the pregnancy would never have occurred. To some it will be perfectly palatable that this young girl be subjected to nine months of sharing nutrition that she herself needs at this time in her life. Nine months of wonder and fear as to what birth will be like. This scares adult women who have made the choice to have a baby. She will in all likelihood have to have a surgical delivery as her pelvis is underdeveloped and vaginal delivery would be difficult if not impossible.
Even those who have made the choice to carry a pregnancy to term are not safe from interference in their reproductive choices.
The AMA is advocating that women only be allowed to choose a hospital setting for their delivery
AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION HOUSE OF DELEGATES
Resolution: 205
(A-08)Introduced by: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Subject: Home Deliveries
Referred to: Reference Committee B
(Craig W. Anderson, MD, Chair)Whereas, Twenty-one states currently license midwives to attend home births, all using the certified professional midwife (CPM) credential (CPM or “lay” midwives), not the certified midwives (CM) credential which both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) recognize ; and
Whereas, There has been much attention in the media by celebrities having home deliveries, with recent Today Show headings such as “Ricki Lake takes on baby birthing industry: Actress and former talk show host shares her at-home delivery in new film” ; and
Whereas, An apparently uncomplicated pregnancy or delivery can quickly become very complicated in the setting of maternal hemorrhage, shoulder dystocia, eclampsia or other obstetric emergencies, necessitating the need for rigorous standards, appropriate oversight of obstetric providers, and the availability of emergency care, for the health of both the mother and the baby during a delivery; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association support the recent American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) statement that “the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers” (New HOD Policy); and be it further
RESOLVED, That our AMA develop model legislation in support of the concept that the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the AAP and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers.” (Directive to Take Action)
Fiscal Note: Implement accordingly at estimated staff cost of $1,929.
Received: 04/28/08
This statement comes despite the fact that a study in Britain shows
Supporting the Midwives Model of Care
www.cfmidwifery.org . 888-236-4880
Fact Sheet
Copyright © Citizens for Midwifery 2005. Permission to reprint with attribution.
New landmark study shows that
Planned Home Births Are Safe
The largest study of home births attended by Certified Professional Midwives, as published in
the British Medical Journal, has found that home birth is safe for low risk women and
involves far fewer interventions than similar births in hospitals.
Safe & Healthy Outcomes
• Results are consistent with most studies of planned home births and low risk hospital births
• Zero maternal deaths
• Intrapartum and neonatal mortality: 2.0 per 1000 intended home births (only 1.7 per 1000 intended
home births when planned breech and twin births are excluded)
• Immediate neonatal concerns resulted in just 2.4% of newborns being placed in neonatal intensive
care
• At six weeks well over 90% of mothers were still breastfeeding their babies
Low Rates of Medical Intervention
• Much lower rates of interventions for intended home births compared to low risk hospital births:
Planned home birth Hospital birth
Induction of labor (only with oxytocin or prostaglandins) 2.1% * 21.0%
Stimulation of labor (only with oxytocin) 2.7% * 18.9%
Electronic fetal monitoring 9.6% 84.3%
Episiotomy 2.1% 33.0%
Vacuum Extraction 0.6% 5.5%
Cesarean Section 3.7% 19.0%
* These numbers differ from the BMJ article where data for CPMs included forms of induction and stimulation
only used by midwives and not comparable to hospital births.
Satisfied Mothers
• Only 1.7% of the mothers said they would choose a different type of caregiver for a future pregnancy
Few Transfers to Hospital Care
• Only 12.1% transferred to hospital intrapartum or postpartum
• Five out of six transfers were before delivery, most for failure to progress, pain relief or exhaustion
• Midwife considered transfer urgent in only 3.4% of intended home births
High Credibility
• Included all home births involving Certified Professional Midwives in the year 2000
• 5,418 women in U.S. and Canada who intended to give birth at home as of the start of labor
• Prospective – every planned home birth was registered in the study prior to labor and delivery
“Outcomes of planned home births with certified professional midwives: large prospective study in North America.”
Kenneth C Johnson and Betty-Anne Daviss. BMJ 2005;330:1416 (18 June). This article and related letters to the
editor are available online, free, at http://www.bmj.com. (Use the search feature and type Daviss for the author.)Copyright © Citizens for Midwifery 2005. Permission to reprint with attribution
And of course there is also the “a fertilized egg is a person with full legal rights supporters”. Will women who have miscarriages now be subjected to court dates to prove they didn’t in fact murder the legally recognized person in their womb? Is stillbirth manslaughter? If you know you have difficulty carrying a pregnancy to term yet keep trying are you a serial murderer? If you have an illness or accident and what would save you may kill the “person with full legal rights and status” in your womb, who’s rights prevail? Will there be courts in hospitals to determine if pregnant women can receive treatment? Will doctors even want to treat pregnant women when they could be held accountable for murder should any treatment result in death or injury to the fetus womb person with full legal rights and status?
These are not rhetorical questions. They need to be considered carefully and most especially by those who do see children in their future.
Image via WikipediaA self proclaimed “proud Scottish chick” from Manitoba has had her son removed from her home because he came to school sporting a swastika. Personally I am offended both by her beliefs and by her bringing the Scots into it. Nevertheless, the question here seems to be, can the government remove children for parental teachings of hate.
At first blush one might be tempted to say yes. However, further reflection sheds light on the dilemmas this would cause. For instance, many fundamentalist religions teach hate against women, gays and others not seen as reflective of their beliefs. And while anyone with any humanity would wish this sort of brainwashing not be inflicted upon the next generation, taking children from their homes is a serious issue and should not be done lightly.
Imagine if the current crop of nutters, aka the Not your Father’s Conservatives Party had the authority to take children from homes they considered “unsuitable”. A horrific thought indeed.
So while the teaching of hate is not something we wish to see and is indeed, in my mind at least, child abuse in protecting the rights of parents to teach their values we protect the rights of all. Paradoxically the reality that these self same people would take away our rights if given half a chance is all the more reason to ensure that we protect theirs.
And this is the appropriate way to show Scottish Pride. Wha’s Like Us? Damn Few And They’re A’ Died!
Interesting story over at CTV on the proposed bill to end tax credits for creative endeavors the (Not your fathers) Conservative Religion Party disapprove of. Can you trust a party with your tax dollars when they don’t even know, nor do they care to find out, what they are disapproving of and defunding?
“I don’t know what the contents of the movie are, but certainly the title would suggest that it’s something that generally taxpayers would not be too damned enthused about having their money put into its production,” said Opposition Leader Bob Runciman.
I don’t know anything about it but feel perfectly entitled cast judgment anyway. How typically right wing.
Further to that, not only do they not know, they will fire anyone who gives the impression they are trying to inform themselves.
A special screening in Ottawa was well-attended by opposition MPs, although no Conservative members showed up. A staffer for Cambridge Conservative MP Gary Goodyear was fired for reserving a ticket in his name without permission.
McGuinty while also unfamiliar with the film recognizes the dangers in government interference in artistic endeavor.
“I just think there’s trouble down that path if we start making those calls as elected officials when it comes to what has and does not have artistic merit.”
snip
“I just don’t think we politicians should be getting into lending a shape to building designs, what poetry is acceptable and not, and what movies are acceptable and not,” he added.
Great write up on this movie over at cinematical.com
Image via WikipediaDavid Warren soils the Ottawa Citizen before it even reaches the bird cage with this piece of hate filled tripe “It’s feminist slander that men are inherently violent”.The fallacies and utter nonsense spewed in the piece do not even warrant comment, though the fact that such a piece of drivel would get published may.
More to the point is the ironic juxtaposition of a breaking story of a woman killed, two small children being taken by children’s services and a man being lead away in handcuffs. Now I’m sure that the man is completely innocent (certainly till he has his day in court.) No doubt this evil woman died of her own hand and found a way to make it look like the man did it.
Just as a final thought. I wonder how these “oooo the evul wimmins is stealing my ballz” types are handling their female counterparts using “feminist” talking points about the dangers of being beaten or killed by partners during pregnancy in an effort to score points for Bill C-484? Maybe they just close their eyes and think of England.
Image via WikipediaThe NFCA has their yarn in tangle after misinterpreting this quote;
“She endured criticism with grace, accepted praise with humility. We know her work is not done. Her struggle will carry on, we hope on the world stage,” Wasylycia-Leis said. “One thing we know for sure is that she will not just stick to her knitting.”
as saying
“What we do know is she didn’t just stay home and knit!”
Now of course we know she didn’t stay home and knit, she is/was a politician and had her career in a different sort of house.
Image via WikipediaThe NFCA are trying to spin this as evil pinko feminazis dis upstanding holy guardians of the future. When in fact the quote was made by a fellow right winger [Peter Mackay] and if anything proves that the men they think of as their protectors cast them in the light they are accusing Judy Wasylycia-Leis of shining.
Here is the quote from Mackay;
McDonough and MacKay were sparring about constituency races in Nova Scotia. When he said she was using her reputation to drag NDP candidates across the finish line, she defended the NDP candidate running in his riding.
“We’ll just see what happens,” MacKay replied. “I think you better stick to your knitting and win your own riding.”
I was/am a stay at home mom to six. Not once did a person of feminist stripe degrade my work at home. In fact they were much more likely to say things like, taking care of kids is the hardest work or I don’t know how you do it, or any other of a number of supportive comments.
However, I have been disrespected, ridiculed and ignored by traditional types who thought that stay at home moms knew nothing except how to cook and clean and change diapers and who had no respect for those skills.
The The National Family Childcare Association would do well to reconsider who their friends are.
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