April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

Politics

Guilty till we can prove you..ah..guilty

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Remember when they at least pretended there was a presumption of innocence?

Remember when having gone through trial and proved not guilty you were in fact considered not guilty?

Did you ever think that two world governments would conspire against one man? And then compound all the wrong that had transpired by folding their arms stomping their feet and refusing to admit either their own guilt or any satisfaction with the declaration of innocence.

For Maher Arar, it never ends.

It wasn’t enough that the Canadian computer engineer was deported by the U.S. to Syria to be tortured.

Nor was it enough that, even after he got home, unknown Canadian government officials deliberately leaked false and damaging information to the media in an attempt to smear him.

Now, after a painstaking 34-month judicial inquiry finally cleared his name, the U.S. government has decided that it is its turn to smear Arar.

The smear was delivered by David Wilkins, U.S. ambassador to Canada. In a statement released yesterday, he said that Arar will stay on a U.S. watch list that denies him entry to that country “based on information from a variety of sources.”

Right wing governments are correct when they say they do not believe in big government. Big government being a code word for government responsible to and for the people.

Totalitarian government, however, seems to be something they can get behind.

totalitarianism

Form of government that subordinates all aspects of its citizens’ lives to the authority of the state, with a single charismatic leader as the ultimate authority. The term was coined in the early 1920s by Benito Mussolini, but totalitarianism has existed throughout history throughout the world (e.g., Qin dynasty China). It is distinguished from dictatorship and authoritarianism by its supplanting of all political institutions and all old legal and social traditions with new ones to meet the state’s needs, which are usually highly focused. Large-scale, organized violence may be legitimized. The police operate without the constraint of laws and regulations. Where pursuit of the state’s goal is the only ideological foundation for such a government, achievement of the goal can never be acknowledged.

I May have to scream….

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After beginning this post I realized I was just too angry to write a nice explanatory post.

I’m angry…I’m angry that some really think that a womans’ right of control of her body is something they can have high school level debates about.

I’m angry for my daughters. I’m angry because of the young woman I know who was kept away from all friends and family until it was too late to abort and then beaten so badly that she miscarried at 22 weeks.

I’m angry for the victims of rape forced to carry the evidence of the sperm of the prick they never wanted in their body.

I’m angry for the women who birthed till they died. I’m angry for the women who had to beg and be shamed by a panel of doctors who decided whether their choice to abort was frivolous or not.

I’m angry for all the women who have had to deal with some bastard thinking he had any fucking right deciding what she could or could not do.

I’m angry for the women fought and bled and died to get us as far as we’ve come only to have their victories put up as dartboards on frat boy walls.

Perhaps the white knights could climb off their high white horses for just a second or two and pay attention.

Abortion= a woman’s right to control a) her own body b) her own destiny c) her own life.

Why would you even put that up for debate? Who the fuck gave you permission to discuss what goes on in my womb?

Will we next be treated to a debate on whether or not rape is really a crime? If a woman has no say over her own body then how can rape exist?

And after all we wouldn’t want women saying no frivolously.

Reproductive rights are not up for political wankers wonkers to debate.

My body MY FUCKING CHOICE!

Lessons from 1984

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Status of Women Minister Bev Oda says the Conservative government has removed “equality” from the mandate of the status of women program because it wants to instil the belief in equality in every government department, agency and office.

That’s right we want to take away the concept of equality to ensure equality. Now if you aren’t understanding that logic you likely belong to one of those special interests groups.

A lot of issues are not women’s issues, they’re Canadian issues,” Oda said, explaining the government philosophy behind a series of moves that have provoked a week of Opposition criticism and protests by women’s groups.

snip

“If you want to advocate for more opportunities for women to enter the workforce, you should be talking to the minister of human resources and social development,” Oda said. “If it’s aboriginal women, it’s the responsibility of the minister of aboriginal affairs.

“We believe as a government that every part of the federal government has to be founded in the belief of equality,” Oda said.

Not actual equality mind you, the belief of equality.

Now if you want to see a demonstration of such belief, look to the south where they have cured hunger! Though there are still some who are food insecure. But hey we all have insecurities!

Oda said the term feminist “doesn’t bother me. It’s not pro or con. All I know is that I stand for what’s right and what’s wrong

Exactly! She stands for the right and as usual they are wrong.

We can take heart though that the other members of the conservative cabinet are already brushing up on women’s issues.

Stockwell Day, Conservative MP for Okanagan Coquihalla, disagrees with that assertion and noted there will be no cuts to services. He added that he doesn’t know anything about the word equality being stripped.

“Status of Women was established in 1976, and there are going to be no cuts in service, the women’s program will continue to receive all of its funding,” Day said.

Er…maybe not.

A woman’s right to life

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The center will appeal to the Nicaraguan human rights council and the Supreme Court, arguing that the law violates a women’s right to life.

Think about that sentence for a minute…..

Has it sunk in?

A woman’s right to life

Who would ever have imagined in the year 2006 almost 2007 that we would be debating whether or not a woman’s life was worth saving.

Nicaragua has decided to enter the debate. Resolved that a fetus, even a dead one, takes precedence over a woman.

The public prosecutor for crimes against women is investigating whether doctors fearful of punishment even before the newly-passed abortion law had gone into effect stood by while Jazmina del Carmen Bojorge, 18, died from complications to her pregnancy.

Bojorge was awaiting her second child when she and her 5-month-old fetus died this month in a public hospital in Managua. Bojorge’s family says they took her to a hospital when she complained of limb pains and weakness. When her condition worsened, doctors say they determined her fetus was dead, but Bojorge went into shock before they could save her.

and

Ana Isela Vega, who was three months pregnant when she suffered a miscarriage this month, was refused the necessary procedure to evacuate her uterus in a public hospital in the city of León, said Marta María Blandón, Central America director of Ipas. According to Blandón, the doctors worried they could not operate for legal reasons. Under pressure from women’s groups who explained that the law did not forbid removing an already-deceased fetus, the doctors finally operated.

Of course we know that anti choice types only create these types of laws because of their great love of children.

Um…maybe not

Asked in an interview this month about the case of an 8-year-old Nicaraguan who was raped in 2002 and whose family fought successfully to get her a legal abortion the following year, Navarro replied, “If a 9-year-old is raped, she should have the baby, because that child has rights.”

I’m guessing he wasn’t talking about the 8 year old child.

[article here, you need to register (it’s free) to read the last page]

Day 12 (Dec. 6th Action)

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We have seen this government cut 5 million dollars from the budget of Status of Women.

End funding for lobbying, research and advocacy on women’s issues.

Drop the word equality and drop the word political from

“the full participation of women in the economic, social, cultural and political life of the country”

Most of these changes to take place April 1st.

How appropriate a date when we have a fool in charge. [Read more…] about Day 12 (Dec. 6th Action)

Day 10 (Dec. 6th Action)

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Are you a person?

It might be assumed that this battle has long since been fought. I would venture to say that assumption is false.

True the women of today may have the vote, but do they have the power? Certainly those of a “certain class” do as they always have, but do the vast majority of women? Do the women who have achieved some success within parties have any power? If they do, why do all the current leadership races (liberal, Albertan conservative) consist of middle age white men? [Read more…] about Day 10 (Dec. 6th Action)