April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

health care

Plows and other gyn procedures

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Ah Pat…never one to engage brain before opening mouth. On the subject of the Women on the Waves ship Pat had this to say;

“Just think of having rocking waves while you’re getting your insides plowed into by some doctor. That doesn’t sound like fun to me…”

Now since they are handing out Mifepristone –a PILL– one wonders exactly how Pat ingests his multivitamin.

Also from the story is a must read link to an article about doctors reaction to the new abortion ban;

Dr. Christopher Estes shared a story with PRCH about a patient he treated last year. In an op-ed he wrote for The Daily News, Dr. Estes recalls treating a woman he calls Lisa. She was pregnant with her third child, and suffering from a heart condition that developed during her last delivery.

“Her condition had worsened substantially within the last week, and we were not sure how much longer her heart could withstand the strain of her pregnancy,” he says. Dr. Estes believed the safest treatment for Lisa was an abortion using the method Congress has banned. “I will have to think long and hard about what I will do the next time I take care of a patient like Lisa. What am I supposed to say to her? ‘I’m sorry, but you’re part of the small fraction of women our laws ignore?'”

further;

The Supreme Court’s decision asserts many things that are simply not true. For instance, the ruling contends that because some women might regret having an abortion if they knew what was involved, the state should anticipate that and protect them. Essentially, this ruling says that untrained politicians can make medical decisions for all of America—even when doctors vehemently disagree with Congress’ supposed findings.

Interestingly many women regret their pregnancies, I hope the Daddies on the Supreme Court are planning to ensure that pregnancy is therefore similarly regulated.

Mr Layton have you stopped beating your wife?

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In an interview with AR media when Mr. Layton was asked if he had stopped beating his wife he replied no.

Full Transcript follows;

AR Media: Mr. Layton, have you stopped beating your wife?

Mr. Layton: Well since I never started beating my wife and in fact believe strongly in ending domestic abuse, I would have to say no.

AR Media: Mr Layton some might opine that by saying no you are in fact aligning yourself with those who see nothing wrong with such activity. How would you answer those people?

Jack Layton: Well to repeat I am against domestic violence and this question is one which has no winning answer to say yes I have implies support for an activity I condemn, to say no implies that I am going to continue on with an activity which in reality I have never been a part of.

AR Media: Can you explain further?

Mr. Layton: Look it’s much this vote on Afghanistan. If we vote to support a partial pull out in 2009 we are seen as saying we support our troops being there until that time, if we vote against it we are seen as saying that we support a war effort completely and without timetable.

It is much like your first question, one in which there is no way not to come out smeared by an accusation of an activity I was never involved with in the first place.

AR Media: Thank you Mr. Layton

_____________________

Edited to add there was an NDP ammendment proposed

In an effort to try to find common ground, let me propose the following amendment to determine whether or not the House would be willing to take the appropriate actions. The amendment would read as follows: “That the motion be amended by deleting the words after ‘operations in southern Afghanistan’ in the preamble and replacing them with the following: ‘This House call on the government to begin now to withdraw Canadian Forces in a safe and secure manner from the counter-insurgency mission in Afghanistan and call upon the government to notify NATO of this decision immediately’”.

Shades of Green

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I saw this quote in a CTV article about Kyoto rallies and it exemplified perfectly my thoughts regarding the environmental debates and plans.

At the Montreal rally, McInnis said she’s noticed the many little ways governments discourage people from putting the environment first, since her family decided to go without a car.

The price of using Montreal’s subway system has steadily rose while she discovered how inaccessible the subway is. Each trip she must drag her stroller and 15-kilogram baby up and down dozens of stairs.

“It’s disgusting,” she said. “It’s bad with a stroller, imagine if you’re elderly or in a wheelchair.

“When you make environmentalism a priority in your life, that’s when you begin to see how the government puts up barriers.”

Yes we need governments to actually and properly regulate business to ensure they are taking responsible efforts to use less energy and create less pollution, but we also need real incentives to allow and encourage the average citizen to make better environmental choices.

Regulating light bulbs is all very well, but creating greater access to transit, planning “self contained” communities, keeping community hospitals (instead of expecting people to drive hundreds of miles to a hospital which has been chosen to specialize in a procedure) creating bike lanes, helping low income home owners and renters to make homes more energy efficient, creating more accessible recycling facilities for toxic waste products, creating community gardens and composting areas, these are the types of things that help divert from landfill, use less energy and make everyday choices which are environmentally friendly.

It is easy to talk about light bulbs, and carbon credits and targets and goals most people don’t really understand, it is another thing to actually implement programs that make a real difference, have real life consequences and allow the voter to see clearly where their tax dollars are being spent.

Have a good day a school, don’t die.

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These stories are hard to take as a parent. You worry about a lot of things when you send your kids to school. Will they have friends, get good grades, have a good teacher. One thing you don’t generally think about is will they die.

All levels of school have been targeted, and the “reasons” have varied.

Some are blaming video games, but then before video games were so popular they blamed D&D, or bad parenting or………

Some have rushed in to protect the guns as if they were an endangered species, even going so far as to recommend that all students be armed.

How can you watch the trauma on these young peoples’ faces and in their voices, think of the parents and friends and families of the students and professors killed and rush in to champion more death? What kind of mindset is that?

What a lovely picture your local school also now the setting for the showdown at the ok corral.

Another aspect of this that has me wondering is the constant reference to we thought it was “just a domestic incident”. Just???? Just two people dead, nothing to see here folks.

If “domestic violence” were taken more seriously perhaps a greater effort may have been put into dealing with the situation and other lives may have been spared.

My thoughts go out to those who have lost someone, and those who went through the ordeal.

May we all find the ability to rise above the petty and mundane and treasure each other.

Third Planet Review

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the audio is off a bit but still well worth watching. You may laugh at the Macleans’ reference.

Third Planet Review hosted by hippielawyer Alan Graf, features a panel of activists from The Farm in Summertown, TN commenting on and analyzing the news giving you a completely different take than the corporate pundits. Panelists are Ina May Gaskin, midwife and author, Albert Bates, founder of the Eco-Village Training Center and author of a new book on surviving peak oil and Peter Schweitzer, executive director of Plenty International, otherwise known as the hippy peace corps

Are Tits breasts?

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stripclubThe Breast Cancer Society of Canada doesn’t seem to think so.

BCSC turned down a donation of funds raised at a strip club event so as not to offend certain other donors.

How nice.

I wonder who else they won’t accept donations from?

Perhaps they have access to studies showing that strippers aren’t women. That they aren’t subject to the same chance of breast cancer as the rest of us.

They claim that they turned the money down because its major donors did not support a connection to exotic dancers.

Did the money have a money shot on it? What the hell?

I propose we send letters to the Breast Cancer Society of Canada which they can read at their leisure and then pass on to their major donors.

Included in this letter would be the definition of charity

To wit;
1. Provision of help or relief to the poor; almsgiving.
2. Something given to help the needy; alms.
3. An institution, organization, or fund established to help the needy.
4. Benevolence or generosity toward others or toward humanity.
5. Indulgence or forbearance in judging others.

And if that is too subtle maybe someone would take it upon themselves to mail a stripper pole or facsimile of with explicit instructions of where to place it.