April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

Politics

Text from the Government: F*ck You!

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Harper and his band of scary men couldn’t even try to look like they gave a shit about Canadians on a small issue such as this.

But Prentice said in a statement Friday that after meeting with the two companies, he was “assured that customers charged for spam could contact their service provider to have the charges removed from their bills.”

“Given these undertakings by Bell Mobility and Telus, I would encourage consumers dissatisfied with existing plans to seek alternatives. The telecommunications market in Canada is dynamic — choice is available,” he said.

CBC

Choice is available, be sure to make the right one at the polls.

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Paris for President!

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Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris responds to McCain with possibly one of the best political ads I’ve seen in some time. Who knew Paris would be the best presidential candidate. :mrgreen:

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A Phone(y) Poll

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EPIC FAIL
EPIC FAIL
Not content with the results of two polls which showed that the majority of Canadians not only are not upset about Morgentaler being awarded the Order of Canada they also support abortion, the fetus fetishers have set up their own phone(y) poll. Read more about the poll and the people behind it at Unrepentant Old Hippie.

CLC and KLR Vu’s formal press release;

NEW NATIONAL POLL: Among 13,000+ Respondents 56% Oppose Morgentaler Order of Canada

TORONTO, July 22 /CNW/ – A random telephone poll of Canadian households
with 13,324 respondents conducted between July 17-21, 2008 has revealed that
55.8% of Canadians oppose the awarding of the Order of Canada to abortionist
Henry Morgentaler.
The national poll commissioned by Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) and just
completed, by KLRVU polling has a 95% confidence level and a margin of error
of 1.5%. The data is accurate 19 times out of 20. A breakdown of votes by
province is provided.
Beginning with a wave on the east coast of Newfoundland, ebbing slightly
in Quebec and then continuing with a surge in Ontario right to the west
coast-the tide of opinion against awarding abortionist Henry Morgentaler has
risen, dramatically.
“Whatever side of the abortion debate you are on, many Canadians from all
walks of life felt this appointment went way too far and offended too many,”
said Jim Hughes National President of CLC. “The mass media coverage of the
Morgentaler award has given us the largest abortion debate this country has
seen in twenty years, and Canadians when they are forced to think about
abortion realize it is horrible.”
In every region of the country opinion has soured considerably. Ontario
is now 58 percent against honoring the infamous abortionist, with the prairies
and the Atlantic provinces having two thirds of its citizens against. Even in
Quebec support for Morgentaler has dropped to 53 percent.
“Clearly the waves of offended Canadians speaking out have had an
impact,” says Mary Ellen Douglas, CLC National Organizer. “When a former
Lieutenant Governor speaks out and returns his ‘Snowflake’, disavowing himself
from the Order, undoubtedly that is going to have an effect.”
Opinion has become the most negative in the Atlantic with Nova Scotia
leading the way at 68 percent against. The substantial size of the sample
gives some unique insights into the regions. For instance over 400 people were
surveyed in Newfoundland alone, even the territories were sampled. With over
13,000+ participants, this survey speaks definitively on the opinion within
the country.

<< Provincial % of No's------------------------------------------------------------------------- Province BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL NWT/NT YK ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Percent 55% 64% 65% 66% 58% 47% 62% 68% 67% 64% 57% 57% -------------------------------------------------------------------------The Question "Do you believe abortionist Henry Morgentaler deserves the Order of Canada Press 1 for Yes Press 2 for No"A French script was used for the province of Quebec. >>

The extensive scientific poll called 157,115 Canadian households,
yielding over 13,000 respondents and the results were weighted in regional
proportions. Results have a margin of error of +/- 1.5%, 19 times out of 20.
The subgroups may have larger margins of error based on concentration of
population. The Targeted Population was Canadian households, respondents were
a result of households that were selected at random, using a random algorithm
provided by INFOLIST Canada, of Toronto, ON. Responses were weighted according
to geographical area, so that the sample would reflect the actual demographic
proportions in the population, using most recent Statistics Canada estimates.
How this poll was conducted: This KLRVU poll was conducted by touchtone
technology which polls households across Canada. Using this technology with
the voice of a professional announcer all respondents heard the questions
asked identically. In theory, with the stated sample size, one can say with
95% certainty that the results would not vary by more than the stated margin
of sampling error, in one direction or the other. There are other possible
sources of error in all surveys that may be more serious than theoretical
calculations of sampling error. These include refusals to be interviewed,
question wording and question order, weighting by demographic control data and
the manner in which respondents are filtered (such as, determining who is a
likely participant). It is difficult to quantify the errors that may result
from these factors.
Fieldwork for this survey was done by KLRVU Research of Winnipeg, MB.

About KLRVU Research

Based in Winnipeg, KLRVU Research is a privately owned polling company
working with private firms since 2006 providing research services. Core
services include research, data collection and macro polling services.

Campaign Life Coalition, together with many other organizations, will
continue to urge Canadians to call the Governor General’s office and insist
that the award be revoked.

For further information: on the results of this survey, call: Media
Contact: Mary Ellen Douglas, CLC National Organizer, (613) 389-4472;
Marie-Christine Houle, CLC Toronto, (cell) (519) 569-0369; KLRVU Research,
Winnipeg, (204) 999-7446

Sorry FFers once again EPIC FAIL!

While all this is for the most part amusing, albeit showing a disgusting lack of ethics, to see the true nature of the people behind the push to deny reproductive rights read this story [points to a google cache page as the page is currently down]
This is true terrorism.

h/t to Alison@Creekside for the link

Let them eat mud!

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Mud, it\'s whats\'s for dinner
Mud, it's whats's for dinner

While most of us remember making mud pies as a childhood pastime, some mothers in Haiti have been serving them as a main course.

Ironically, many of these women were once rice farmers themselves. But in the 1980s, U.S.-grown rice began pouring into Haiti. Thanks to federal subsidies, the imported rice was sold for less than what it cost to grow it. Haitian farmers just couldn’t compete.

Neither could millions of other farmers around the world, who have been bankrupted by the influx of rice, corn, and wheat from the U.S., Europe and Japan. These farmers have gone from growing their own food and feeding their countries to having to buy food that’s priced on a global market. Now that these commodity markets have spiked, millions of more families cannot afford to eat.

SOURCE

From “A Women’s Declaration to the G8: Support Real Solutions to the Global Food Crisis “;

The root cause of the food crisis is not scarcity, but the failed economic policies long championed by the G8, namely, trade liberalization and industrial agriculture. These policies, which treat food as a commodity rather than a human right, have induced chaotic climate change, oil dependency, and the depletion of the Earth’s land and water resources as well as today’s food crisis.
Yet, in the search for solutions, the G8 is considering expanded support for the very measures that caused this web of problems. Calls for more tariff reductions, biofuel plantations, genetically modified crops, and wider use of petroleum-based fertilizers and chemical pesticides are at the forefront of discussions in Japan.

I read a comment on a website today that claimed our country has no poor because you don’t see children playing on garbage piles. As though a lack of decent housing, food. clothing were of no consequence. This person felt that all could live a wealthy existence with a little effort. The lack of both knowledge and compassion in those few words was astounding.

As we become more and more comfortable with the idea of those basics necessary for human survival (food, water, shelter, could air be far behind?) as commodities, those commodities are becoming more scarce and harder to afford. We have appropriated human rights, dignity and survival and replaced it with a false claims that it is acceptable to allow people to die and that their deaths are due to their own moral failings.

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I’m supporting the Liberals!

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Ok well one of them at least. Brent St. Denis has an answer to Bill C-484, Bill C-543 which says; “This enactment amends paragraph 718.2(a) of the Criminal Code by adding pregnancy as an aggravating circumstance for the purpose of sentencing … evidence that the offender, in committing the offence, abused a person who he or she knew or ought to have known was pregnant.”

Brent St. Denis
Brent St. Denis

When queried about why he decided to do this, St. Denis said, “Mr. Epps’ bill traded off a dilemma — many pro-choice members of Parliament felt trapped. And, after all, it’s hard to say you are against something the way Epps set it up. This will give MPs an option. This trumps Mr. Epps’ bill and his hidden agenda.”

Something else pointed out to me by St. Denis was what is happening in the United States where fetal protection laws have been passed.

“In 37 states, fetal protection laws make it a crime to cause harm to the fetus, but it has been shown that pregnant women are more likely to be punished for other behaviours and conditions that are not criminalized for other people. Such as drug or alcohol abuse or mental illness.”

That doesn’t seem like something we would want to happen in Canada, but don’t fool yourselves — Epps bill will do just that.

{emphasis added} SOURCE

Contact your MP

and email the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to let them know there is a sensible alternative to the bill currently before them. One which recognizes that protecting women is the best way to protect fetuses. JUST@parl.gc.ca

And if you would like to send support to St. Denis;
Parliamentary Office:
584 Confederation Building
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
Phone:
Fax:
Email: (613) 996-5376
(613) 995-6661
stdenb@parl.gc.ca
Constituency Office:
121 Barber Street
Espanola ON P5E 1S4
Phone:
Fax:
Toll Free: (705) 869-0059
(705) 869-5341
1-800-463-3335

I don’t fill prescriptions at your church, don’t preach in my pharmacy!

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Equivalent of abortion?
Equivalent of abortion?

The Bush administration in it’s continuing efforts to appease the crazies appeal to it’s base is drafting legislation which would

  • consider contraceptives abortifacts
  • require family planning clinics to hire staff opposed to family planning
  • allow any health care provider to refuse care based on their religious beliefs
  • consider fertilized eggs not implanted fetuses to be a pregnancy (even though there is no way to test for this )

Under the draft proposal, federally funded hospitals and clinics that provide family planning services would be required to promise in writing that they will turn a blind eye to health care providers’ views on abortion and certain kinds of birth control, such as emergency contraception.

The proposed rule defines abortion as “any of the various procedures–including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action–that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation.”

Organizations that do not comply would forfeit financial aid distributed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

SOURCE

While it goes without saying that women have the right to choose to reproduce or not.  I wonder if they have considered that many women are on the pill for reasons other than reproductive control. Other medically indicated reasons include;

  • acne control
  • Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
  • irregular or absent menstrual periods
  • severe cramps
  • endometriosis
  • hormone replacement therapy
  • estrogen replacement due to such causes as anorexia nervosa, damage to the ovaries from radiation or chemotherapy
  • anemia from heavy periods

from the draft pdf available here

Ambulance Firm Faces Bias Suit; Worker Fired After Refusing to go to Abortion Clinic, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, May 9, 2004 at C3 (“An ambulance worker who was fired after she refused to transport a woman to an abortion clinic filed a religious-discrimination lawsuit against her employer Friday…‘I just felt really strongly it was something that I couldn’t do,’ said Adamson, a devout Christian who is adamantly anti-abortion. ‘It would be against everything that I believe in and everything that I support.’”);

This is used an example of bias against people’s religious values. Now what if a gay man requires transport to the hospital is it ok for him to have to wait until an ambulance with a human being non religious person arrives? What about a JW refusing to do a life saving blood transfusion? How about as an atheist or non christian your caregiver declines to contact your priest for last rites because it doesn’t jive with their beliefs? Yes this is a can of worms for choice but also for religious war. And if churches are deciding laws and politics is it not time that their tax exempt status was revoked?

An IRC Section 501(c)(3) organization may not engage in carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities. Whether an organization has attempted to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities is determined based upon all relevant facts and circumstances. However, most IRC Section 501(c)(3) organizations may use Form 5768, Election/Revocation of Election by an Eligible Section 501(c)(3) Organization to Make Expenditures to Influence Legislation, to make an election under IRC Section 501(h) to be subject to an objectively measured expenditure test with respect to lobbying activities rather than the less precise “substantial activity” test. Electing organizations are subject to tax on lobbying activities that exceed a specified percentage of their exempt function expenditures. For further information regarding lobbying activities by charities, download Lobbying Issues.

For purposes of IRC Section 501(c)(3), legislative activities and political activities are two different things, and are subject to two different sets of rules. The latter is an absolute bar. An IRC Section 501(c)(3) organization may not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office. Whether an organization is engaging in prohibited political campaign activity depends upon all the facts and circumstances in each case. For example, organizations may sponsor debates or forums to educate voters. But if the forum or debate shows a preference for or against a certain candidate, it becomes a prohibited activity. The motivation of an organization is not relevant in determining whether the political campaign prohibition has been violated. Activities that encourage people to vote for or against a particular candidate, even on the basis of non-partisan criteria, violate the political campaign prohibition of IRC Section 501(c)(3).

SOURCE

It is said that there is no such thing as being a little bit pregnant, it is obvious that there can be no such thing as being a little bit pro-choice. American women need to come out in droves and support pro-choice candidates. Not just for themselves but for their daughters and granddaughters and sisters. There is a war on American soil. It is the war of religion against reason, lies against science, and a war for control of your body. Don’t let the Bush administration, as did the Nazi’s, as did the Ceausescu regime, make your body property of the state.

And to Canadian readers, this is why we cannot as Ms. May insists have ‘dialogue’ with the anti-choicers. It only emboldens them. Bills C-484, C-537 and Bill C-338 are all bills designed with the purpose of creating a climate where women’s choices are defined for them by others beliefs.

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