First they came for KAIROS ...

Gerald Caplan, G&M:

The Harper government, women’s rights and the cost of speaking out

The Tories are playing punishment politics with Canada’s progressive NGOs – and eroding civil society in the process

"Despite the chill on speaking out, this week the Canadian Council for International Co-operation announced its fear that its funding is likely to be cut. CCIC is Canada's preeminent coalition to end global poverty. Some 90 Canadian non-profit organizations, including most of the well-known ones, come together under the CCIC umbrella to monitor federal policies on foreign affairs, aid, trade and peace-building."

"Monitor federal policies on foreign affairs, aid, trade, and peace-building"?

Well there's your problem right there.

.

Betty Plewes, the former CEO of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, was not afraid of speaking out in Embassy Mag in May :

"At Foreign Affairs, the past year has seen the entire division focused on women's rights and gender equality eliminated.

In Pakistan and Kenya, two countries where women's rights violations and violence against women are profound and systemic, CIDA has cut funds that were explicitly dedicated to gender equality. In Canada, Match International, the only international development organization devoted specifically to women's equality, has lost its funding.

Within CIDA, there is a noticeable retreat from gender equality work. Staff have recommended to NGOs that they remove the words "gender equality" from their proposal if they want a chance at funding."

This is what Senator Nancy Ruth was warning about when she recently advised NGO's to "Shut the fuck up" about abortion funding overseas. "If you push it, there will be more backlash," said Nancy Ruth.
.
Antonia Zerbisias covered much of this ground recently in Is Ottawa leaving women behind?, with a great quote that "the women's movement is the canary in the coal mine" :

"Canadians are snoozing while they are losing their country,” says [Liberal SWC critic Anita] Neville.“I don’t think people know or understand what’s going on.
I don’t think they will realize it until it hits them personally."

Yeah, that's how it usually is - women and children always go first.

Dear 800 pound gorillas at Facebook...

You are displaying all the attributes of complete morons.

Apparently, Facebook, that faceless social networking giant that really wants to be the market square, inner-city pub and urban playground of the world, doesn't like the idea of someone depicting the image of an infant being fed by its mother.

In fact, Facebook deleted the artwork of Kate Hansen because... well, why don't we let her explain. We'll wait here.

Ms. Hansen's art is, at least by my reckoning, hardly what I'd call hateful, threatening or obscene. Yet that is the only explanation Facebook provided Kate for removing her artwork: That somehow it fell into one of those categories.

The women in Kate's art aren't even fully nude. There are no body parts showing that you can't see at a christian temperance league barbeque and beach gathering.

What is it that Facebook thinks is hateful, threatening or obscene? Could it be the actual act of breastfeeding?

Time to give Facebook some dairy queen time.

Hat tip - Gregor

Oh no! The ukele playing left-wing fringe!

Thanks, Antonia.

Yo! Support bro's!

.

In comments yesterday back here Fern Hill had an excellent idea.

Ok, guys, here's your chance. Go!

.

Proud to be a member of that 'left-wing fringe group' called 'women'

"I'm thinking of making T-shirts: "Proud to be a member of that 'left-wing fringe group' called 'Women,' " wrote Antonia Zerbisias two days ago. She was referring of course to Steve's unplugged nonsense from Wednesday :

"Instead of subsidizing court challenges, the previous government was doing, subsidizing lawyers to bring forth court challenges by left-wing fringe groups .."

Zerb continues :

"Thank you for finally admitting that your government shut down the Court Challenges program in 2006 not just because, as then-Heritage Minister Bev Oda claimed in Parliament, you "recognize the importance of women" but because you believe that that women's rights are "left-wing fringe" rights."

As well as gays, lesbians, persons with a disability ...
The Court Challenges Program (CCP) funded "test-cases initiated by individuals and groups to challenge federal laws and policies that violate their constitutional equality rights."

Yeah, good thing we got rid of that - now only the rich can afford to worry about equality.

Antonia Z has a facebook page for Proud to be's , a follow-up blogpost today, and a T-shirt design from Francesca Dobbyn. Really hoping to see those T's on the streets in time for our maybe upcoming election.

In the meantime, here's our virtual T above, signed by the proud to be left-wing fringe women bloggers and commenters group at Creekside over the last couple of days, plus, um, one guy I just couldn't resist. Sadly the Beav expense account does not extend to actually printing them up but hey - Woot! - that was fun! Print one up yourself - I'm going to.

With many thanks to all for your names, your support, and to Antonia Z, DAMMIT JANET, Cathie from Canada, Impolitical, Warren Kinsella, Constant Vigilance, Bread n Roses, and all you facebookies for linking to it.
.

Does God Hate Women?

A directory of divine misogyny

From a book review by Johann Hari at New Statesman :

"After all the arguments for subordinating women have been shown to be self-serving lies, what are misogynists left with? They have only one feeble argument that is still deferred to and shown undeserving respect across the world, even by people who should know better: "God told me to. I have to treat women as lesser beings, because it is inscribed in my Holy Book.”

Ophelia Benson and Jeremy Stangroom are the editors of Butterflies and Wheels, the best atheist site on the web. In Does God Hate Women? they forensically dismantle the last respectable misogyny. They argue: "What would otherwise look like stark bullying is very often made respectable and holy by a putative religious law or aphorism or scriptural quotation . . . They worship a God who is a male who gangs up with other males against women.
They worship a thug."

Ok, but what about cultural differences? Isn't it racist or imperialist to oppose the practices of other cultures?

Hari :

"This merrily ignores how women within these cultures protest against their treatment – very loudly. They aren’t objecting to being imprisoned in their homes, or having their genitalia cut, or being stoned for having sex, because a white person told them to.
Benson and Stangroom put it well: "Multiculturalism by definition makes a fetish of cultures, and it is almost impossible to do that without treating them as monolithic. As soon as you admit that all cultures have internal dissent and nonconformity, the whole idea of protecting or deferring to particular cultures breaks down into incoherence."

h/t Co-blogger Ed

"Pro-lifer" : Just another word for "terrorist"

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, responded to the gunning down of Dr. George Tiller in his church today by saying he "reaped what he sowed."

From Kos : "The alleged assassin, Scott Roeder, was an active member of Operation Rescue. On an Operation Rescue website called Charge Tiller (which in the last 30 minutes or so has been taken down), there's this comment, posted on Monday, September 3, 2007, by a Scott Roeder from Kansas, almost certainly the same Scott Roeder alleged to have assassinated Tiller:

"It seems as though what is happening in Kansas could be compared to the "lawlessness" which is spoken of in the Bible. Tiller is the concentration camp "Mengele" of our day and needs to be stopped before he and those who protect him bring judgement upon our nation."

McClatchy : Suspect supported killing abortion providers, friends say

"I know that he believed in justifiable homicide," said Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City anti-abortion activist. Roeder also was a subscriber to Prayer and Action News, a magazine that advocated the justifiable homicide position, said publisher Dave Leach, an anti-abortion activist from Des Moines, Iowa.

"Pro-lifer" is just another word for "terrorist" .

Last call ...

.

Nominations close at midnight.

.

F Words 2009!

Pale and Prole from A Creative Revolution are hosting the F-Word Blog Awards again this year. Hosting them, hell, they do everything.

Last year's awards - Yes, of course that's me - why the f else would I mention them?

Rules 'n Stuff - You can nominate yourself, and as many others as you like. "Stuff" includes a couple of promotional buttons you can put on your blog all the better to get this rolling.

Nominations start today. Mudwrestling at 11.

Con MP inexplicably goes on and on about auctioning off kidneys on eBay...

and issues a challenge ...

"Mr. Bruinooge said that it is illegal for an individual to have a kidney removed and auction it off on eBay.
"The bottom line is that people like myself are not going to stop until, at the very least, unborn children have more value than a Canadian kidney," he said.
"Your kidneys have more protection than an unborn child until the moment it is out of the woman," Mr. Bruinooge said. "I challenge anyone to debate me on that point, because I don't think you can. It is very true."

Ooooh, pick me, Mr Bruinooge, pick me.
It is not permitted to auction off kidneys on eBay.
It is not permitted to auction off fetuses on eBay.
Therefore kidneys do not have more protection than fetuses on eBay.
Next.
.
In addition to his preoccupation with kidneys, Mr Bruinooge, recently elected to head a secret "pro-life" caucus of federal Lib and Con MPs, would also like to see the abortion debate reopened.
Hell, why not? And what about slavery? Has anyone seriously debated the pros and cons of slavery recently? Because I'm guessing eBay doesn't allow slave auctions either.

Kidney watch blogroll : Hysperia, Impolitical, deBeauxOs, Cathie, JJ, LuLu, Antonia, and Scott
Cross-posted at Creekside

CON³ cranks up the anti-abortion wurlitzer again

Conservative Convention Constitution - aka CON³ -

Resolution P-207 :
legislation to make assault causing harm to fetus a separate crime - PASSED

Kady from the convention floor :

"A delegate from the East Coast bravely makes the argument that this would, indeed, open the door to fetal rights - which gets a cheer, and then boos when she indicates that this would be a bad thing."

G&M :

"The “Protecting Pregnant Women” policy resolution passed by a narrow margin despite warnings to Tories from abortion rights advocates that it was part of a “slippery slope” to criminalizing abortion.
Mr. Nicholson said the Harper government would move as it promised in August to enact similar legislation to the passed resolution. He repeated earlier Conservative pledges that this was not an effort to attack the right to abort."

Ok, Mr Justice Minister, apart from the rather awkward cheering on the convention floor that would indicate this is, indeed, an effort to attack the right to abortion, what was that previous "similar legislation" for?

Ken Epp, author of C-484, via We Move To Canada :

"Because we want to recognize the humanity of that unborn child. Whether that child was killed three months before birth or three months after birth, it was still a child, there was still a loss of life. The other side might wish to deny the humanity of that unborn child, but we want the law to recognize it."

Alrighty then - that's pretty clear. As JJ says : Bring it.
Cross-posted at Creekside

Con Con '08 : Running with scissors

.

BigCityLib says Winnipeg may just become the most hilarious city in Canada next week when the Cons hold their big ConConvention and publicly air their C.R.A.P. :

"A Conservative Government will support legislation defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman."

Yeah but not this Consevative Government - what else you got?

"The Conservative Party supports investing significantly in increasing our scientific knowledge base and in making firm and fair decisions based on facts ..."

Um .. yeah. Well, ok, I get it, CRAP, baby steps and all that ...

"Food. Food is one of the basic necessities of life, and a Conservative Government places high priority on assuring that Canada’s food supply is safe, secure, and sustainable."

OK, that's good - keep it mind-numbingly obvious.

No need to mention your recent policy forays into listeriosis sandwiches and having the food industry police itself ...

"... an investigation into the security of our long term freshwater resources as they pertain to exportation as a commodity."

Mentioning water exports as a commodity is pushing your luck a bit though, isn't it?

I also notice the original proposal was "protection and security of" but the "protection" part got crossed off somehow ...

"... recognizing the need for improving security and improved relations with the United States and establish a study of the feasibility of a North American perimeter."

Whoa! CRAP! What happened to not looking scary? Now is hardly the time to be rediscovering your Reform roots ...

.

But wait! What's this? Antonia Z at Broadsides :

"Protecting Pregnant Women
The Conservative Party supports legislation to ensure that individuals who commit violence against a pregnant woman would face additional charges if her unborn child was killed or injured during the commission of a crime against the mother."

Not the anti-abortion C-484 thingey again? Seriously?

You guys may as well all go get fitted for new muzzles right now before Big Daddy gets home.

.

Cross-posted at Creekside

Happy Working for Free Day!

September 17 is 71% of the way through the year.
Due to the 29% gender pay gap, the average woman will now spend the rest of the year working for free compared to her average male counterpart.

We apologize for failing to note Happy Aboriginal Women Working for Free Day, which roughly coincides with Canada Day each year.

h/t Gigi at Bread and Roses

Don't step in that. It'll stick to your shoe.

Never has so much horse shit been cobbled together on one page by someone who has no clue what they're actually talking about.

She's unqualified. Anti woman. A "right-wing man in a skirt and fetching up-do." Feminists went apoplectic when Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was chosen as Senator John McCain's running mate. The same feminists who keep saying we must have more women in politics suddenly changed their minds. We need more women--just not that kind of woman.

That's just the start and it get progressively worse from there.

Ultimately, feminism -- in its current manifestation as a hodge-podge of left-wing positions on abortion, gender quotas and family law -- has become a brittle, insecure ideology. Nothing highlights this better than the animus feminists reserve for a woman like Sarah Palin.

Not just feminists, Andrea. Anyone who recognizes abuse of authority, those of us who abhor censorship, anybody who expects an elected representative to actually represent those who sent them to their office.

In short, Andrea, you're trying to camouflage what Palin really is - another incompetent, narrow-minded, religion-driven, fundamentalist right-wing freak. You're trying to use the "feminist" argument because you can't defend her on her record, which quite frankly, sucks.

But if you need your little strawman addressed, I'll hand you over to Jane who quite ably, (and far too politely, in my view), leaves your ridiculous diatribe in a smoking heap on the ground.

Take it away Jane.

Emma the Embryo on the Massive New Poll

Or as Fern Hill put it : 90% Don't Give a Shit

The Massive New Poll, as Campaign Life Coalition proudly calls it, was carried out via an automated demon-dialer which, according to the brand new website of the polling company CLC employed to bother people eating their dinner, "plays a pre-recorded message on a customer's answering machine, voicemail service, or even to a "live" person" :

"Do you believe abortionist Henry Morgentaler deserves the Order of Canada Press 1 for Yes Press 2 for ...."

*click*

Less than 5%, guys. You should have stuck with freeping the G&M poll.

JJ and Big City Lib investigate the various anti-choice ReformaTory relatives associated with the polling company.
And deBeauxOs at Birth Pangs explains why we should care about those associations in a chilling piece about what Operation Rescue has been up to lately.

Finally, here's a little BC history moment on Campaign Life Coalition's links to Operation Rescue :
Anti-Abortion Cop Uses Police Computer to Track Clinic Workers

Cross-posted at Creekside

Update : Buckets posts screen shots of a page from the one-day-old KLR Vu polling website -

and it's a word-for-word copy of a US polling website, which is fitting really, given that our anti-choice websites up here are often also mirror images of U.S. ones. I suppose the inability to spell "Canadians" properly should have tipped me off.

Bill C-537 - Vellacott's Trojan Horsefeathers

Bill C-537 : An Act to amend the Criminal Code (protection of conscience rights in the health care profession)
1. The Criminal Code is amended by adding the following after section 425.1:

Definition : "human life"

"human life" means the human organism at any stage of development, beginning at fertilization or creation."

This snowball-in-hell from ReformaTory Alliance parliamentary prat Maurice Vellacott is just another backbencher wedgie against abortion, and, like Epp's Bill C-484, it will be stoutly defended by the usual Trojan horsefeathers crowd as being not against the right to choose - oh no, not at all - it's all for the protection of the health professional.

Then if, like these women in Pennsylvania, you get raped but manage to get yourself straight to the nearest hospital to be examined and still have the wit to also ask for a morning after pill but are denied one by the attending ER physician on the grounds it's against his religion to give you one, you'll at least be able to thank your lucky stars that his "conscience rights" have been "protected" by Vellacott's peculiar version of the Criminal Code.

H/T to Diane Demornay at enmasse for news item)

One thing puzzles me here though : "the human organism at any stage of development, beginning at fertilization or creation" ???
What's with "or creation"?

What "stage" could possibly need the further embellishment of "or creation"?
Well I guess they've got the Second Coming covered.

Further raised eyebrows on C-537 :
pale, the regina mom, Laura, JJ, 900 ft Jesus, CC

Cross-posted at Creekside

Look at the calendar and ask, "Why is this just a dream?"

From Antigone Magazine.

Women HAVE employment equality...

Oops! Maybe not.

Via Lindsay, Citigroup in the US has agreed to settle a $33 million sex discrimination law suit with 2500 former and current female employees over unequal employment practices:

Citigroup Inc. has agreed to pay $33 million to about 2,500 current and former female brokers at the company's Smith Barney subsidiary to settle a discrimination lawsuit. A federal judge in San Francisco still has to approve the proposed settlement of a lawsuit filed by four women in 2005 that accuses company managers of doling out clients disproportionately to male brokers. Citigroup also agreed to change the way it awards bonuses and partnerships and alter how accounts are assigned, according to court documents.

That works out to an average of about $13,200 per person. Before the lawyers take their cut of course.

Yeah... it's 2008. On the calendar anyway.

SoCon or Busted

Cathie from Canada catches blogger SoCon or Bust doing a little premature gloating and dogwhistling about the all too obvious intended endgame of Bill C-484, the Unborn Victims of Crime Act, aka the Stealth Act to Recriminalize Abortion :
"... the momentum is clearly moving in our direction.
If not this time, it will happen in the future. It’s inevitable now.
Just give us a little crack and we’ll drive this

RIGHT THROUGH IT!
Little baby steps….easy does it."

Oh come on, SoCons, that's not your usual truck.
This is your usual truck :


that creepy fetusmobile you have on loan from the US Center for Bio-Ethical Reform.
Anyone could drive that thing through C-484.

Cross-posted at Creekside

Convergence

First, go read this at Unrepentant Old Hippie.

Now go read this at CathiefromCanada.