April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

anti choice

Texas wanna be bomber indicted

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Paul Ross Evans, 27, was indicted Tuesday for attempting to use an explosive incendiary bomb on the Austin’s Women’s Health Clinic.
Evans faces one count each of attempting to use weapons of mass destruction, malicious attempt to damage a building, and possession of a destructive device by a convicted felon. He’s also facing two other counts related to the incident.

Interesting take on the story at LifeNews.com [and by interesting I mean OH PLEASE!! What do you think you’re over the top rhetoric is going to come to?]

The charges against Evans include malicious attempt to damage a building and property by means of explosive and fire, possession of a destructive device by a convicted felon and two counts of use and carrying of a destructive device in relation to a crime of violence.

Abortion advocates attempted to turn the isolated incident involving someone unaffiliated with the pro-life movement into a political statement.

“We live in fear of anti-choice extremism,” local Planned Parenthood CEO Ken Lambrecht told News 8 in response to the incident. “We perform routine quarterly drills for bomb threats. We had one this very week, and our clinic is constantly aware of a potential threat.”

But Texas Alliance for Life director Joe Pojman said that pro-life advocates are peaceful people and that any political movement has individual vigilantes that act on their own wrongheaded ideas.

“We get painted with the same brush as someone who is a criminal. We only condone peaceful legal activities,” he said.

Thou shalt not steal

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and other commandments that don’t seem to matter.march

It seems passing strange to me that those who so devoutly wish to force their religious beliefs on an entire country are so out of touch with the tenets therein.

When the question was rightly asked why the official Canadian logo appeared on some March for Life banners a spokesperson replied that such theft is a common occurrence. How odd.

The bible I read specifically spoke of theft as wrong, certainly not something to be justified and brushed off.

There is, of course, the real possibility that such use of logo was sanctioned by the Harper Government™. In either case I believe we are owed an explanation.

If the logo was used without permission I certainly hope those involved will receive the same force of law as others have.

Mothers

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An interesting article at Women’s Enews on mothering and the value placed on it. While much lip service is given to the undertaking, little is done to actually support those choosing to have children.

(WOMENSENEWS)–The news media loves stories about highly educated mothers opting out of rewarding careers to stay at home with their young children.

Anecdotal evidence unsupported by serious research is also constantly drumming home the idea that women consider themselves the best providers of child care. For example, a 2006 Salary.com survey of what mothers do “on the job” leads with the headline “Dream Job: Stay at Home Mom.” Although the survey claims that equal numbers of working and stay-at-home mothers participated, quotes from the happy, at-home mothers dominate the report.

For instance, working mothers are “horrified” at the thought of hiring strangers to care for their children, they believe that mother’s care is “priceless” and that motherhood is the “greatest job in the world.” It’s easy to stay on message: Women must choose between work and family.

But the opposite message is sent to low-income mothers.

The recent debate over the welfare-to-work provisions of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families–or welfare–captures this difference. Congress did not debate the best means to provide even minimally adequate day care to the children of single parents. Instead they wondered whether or not the required hours of paid work should be increased!

Why does popular sentiment portray some mothers as virtuous when they drop out of the labor force to care for their families, while others are responsible only if they work for pay outside the home?

With Mothers Day coming up and the usual platitudes running rampant trying to get you to spend spend spend to show mom how much you love her, and with the forced pregnancy folks all creamed up about Bushie and company and their anti choice stance, I thought it might be interesting to see just how much mothers are valued once those sacred womb contents are born. [Read more…] about Mothers

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.

Politics and Religion

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Rules of etiquette commonly call for the avoidance of certain topics. Chief among those are politics and religion.

It is worth noting that these are treated as two separate items, and rightly so.

When religion is factored into politics neither can work appropriately.

Religion deals with spirituality, with ones belief in being part of a specific god’s community and the leaders therein are charged with representing a specific community of belief.

Politics deals with issues specific to secular communities. An elected representative is charged with representing everyone, not just those who subscribe to a certain belief system. Though some governments tend to forget this. [Read more…] about Politics and Religion

The Optics of abortion

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In recent years, support for legal abortion has waned, which Lord attributes to the growing power of Christian fundamentalists: “We, like the good citizens of Iran, live in what amounts to a theocracy.”

A great article from Womens’ Enews showing how the media on abortion has been skewed to promote the anti choice agenda.

“Not one op-ed discussing abortion on the op-ed page of the most powerful liberal paper in the nation was written by a reproductive-rights advocate, a pro-choice service-provider or a representative of a women’s group,” reported the Prospect. “Instead, the officially pro-choice New York Times has hosted a conversation about abortion on its op-ed page that consisted almost entirely of the views of pro-life or abortion-ambivalent men, male scholars of the right and men with strong, usually Catholic, religious affiliations. In fact, a stunning 83 percent of the pieces appearing on the page that discussed abortion were written by men.”

Well isn’t that special! Nothing like equal time. [Read more…] about The Optics of abortion