William Quincy Belle

Same sh*t, different day. There really isn't much point in discussing this topic as I've said it all before. One of the reasons I stopped writing here was because I began to realize I could take an article from several years ago, copy and paste it into a new article, change a few dates, and have a new posting. In other words, we are all dealing with the same issues; it seems like nothing has changed. However, I did think I ran across two points worth noting.

Anti-abortion
C is a long-standing friend. We normally don't talk about politics, but it has come up a few times and I've learned he's Republican, and I'm suspicious he's MAGA.

In a discussion about abortion, he said this: He and his wife had a beautiful daughter. His daughter had beautiful grandchildren. In light of the beauty these births brought into his life, he could never be pro-choice.

That sums it up quite nicely. People see the world through the lens of their own experiences and can't imagine anything else. C can't picture any circumstances where an abortion would be justified. Time and time again, I've seen pro-life advertisements with the picture of a smiling baby, usually a white baby by the way, as if every gestation is destined to wind up in a similar fashion. Since Roe vs. Wade was overturned, as of this writing, 17 states have banned or severely restricted abortion access. There have been numerous headlines of women dying because they were denied a life-saving abortion. And it appears those same states have banned or impeded any investigation into deaths attributable to their abortion laws.

So much for freedom. Pro-choice says have an abortion or don't have an abortion, it's your choice. Pro-life says we make the law, and nobody gets an abortion. Is it murder? I can't think of anybody other than a mother who loves a child, cares for it, and protects it with her own life. And yet, millions of women all over the world have abortions and do NOT feel they are committing murder. My body, my choice. Hello, Christian Taliban! I'm right and everybody else is wrong.

The Economy
In mid-2024 on Facebook, I got into a back and forth with a MAGA. He said the most important thing for him was the economy. I'm not sure why he thought t**** was gong to solve all our problems. However, he added that for him, abortion was an unimportant secondary issue. Economy first, nothing else matters.

How curious for a man to say abortion is not important. - Did I manage to write enough sarcasm into that statement? - Once again, people are only concerned with what's important to them, and they will ignore anything else, even voting against it because they're not affected by it.

I've seen a number of reports and interviews where MAGA women have said the economy was their most important concern, and they, too, would vote Republican essentially voting against their own sex. How curious.

A Personal Note
In 1937, abortion was illegal. My grandmother got pregnant for a third time and decided to have a backroom abortion. It was botched. She died. My mother lost her mother at the age of eight. My grandfather lost his wife. I lost the opportunity to ever meet my grandmother. I'm sure if she had had proper medical care, things would have gone well and she would have lived.

I posted this story here on my blog and somebody commented that my grandmother was a murderer and deserved to die. People can be cruel.

Final Word
I could go on but why bother. Nothing I say is going to have any effect one way or another. People are going to do what they're gong to do. Who cares who dies? Who cares about freedom? I'm right, and everybody else is wrong.

I started this blog in 2010 as my soapbox to spout off about what I think. We are quite literally talking about the same things. Nothing has changed.



References

my blog various artticle on abortion

my blog Pro-lifers are morally superior to the rest of us.
1,200 words, 6-minute read

Full disclosure: I'm a libtard, a badge I wear with great pride. To borrow from the 1960s hippies, I'm a peace, love, and understanding type of guy. And if you haven't guessed, I'm pro-choice but let me add a seeming contradiction: I, too, am anti-abortion. This is elective surgery and represents an unwanted pregnancy. If all babies arrived at the right time, if all pregnancies were wanted, nobody would have an abortion.

2025-01-10

Site Map - William Quincy Belle

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Recently, the world has been atwitter on Twitter and other social media commenting left, right and centre about one Rush Hudson Limbaugh. Of course, it is easy to pile on by calling him an anal orifice or a Neanderthal or a meany... (I consult my notes) oops, that's a f**kin' meany... however I can't help feeling there is more, much more not just to this particular story, but to what the story represents. This is the tip of the iceberg. But first, let's recap what happened with the help of Wikipedia.

On February 16, 2012, Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, held a hearing on infringement of religious liberty and contraceptive mandates. Fluke was submitted as a witness by Democratic members, but Issa denied her testimony, stating her name was submitted too late. The hearing was widely criticized for having no women witnesses to speak on an issue of contraception.

The papers ran pictures of a group of religious leaders, all men, weighing in on this topic. Just imagine, not a single female witness. As the blogger D. A. Wolf so astutely pointed out with homonymous humor: "[It was] a (w)holy masculine audience." Sandra Fluke was later invited to testify on February 23 for House Democratic members.

In her testimony, she argued in favor of requiring private insurance companies to cover contraception. She claimed that over the three years as a law student, birth control would cost an estimated $3,000. She continued that the lack of coverage would force many low income women to go without contraception and that women's free health clinics cannot meet the need. She then discussed the consequence of such policies, including a friend with polycystic ovary syndrome being forced to go without birth control pills, resulting in a cyst developing on her ovaries. According to Fluke, her friend was denied coverage, even with a verified condition from her doctor, and this is not a rare event for women with medical conditions. She then stated that she wanted equal treatment for women's health issues and did not see the issue as being against the Catholic Church.

On February 29, all hell broke loose when Rush Limbaugh, defender of the faith, champion of the moral Conservative, took to the airwaves and went after Sandra Fluke with a figurative pickaxe.

What does it say about the college coed Susan Fluke [sic], who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.

Can you imagine if you're her parents how proud of Sandra Fluke you would be? Your daughter goes up to a congressional hearing conducted by the Botox-filled Nancy Pelosi and testifies she's having so much sex she can't afford her own birth control pills and she agrees that Obama should provide them, or the Pope.

On March 1, Limbaugh continued:

[Fluke is] having so much sex, it's amazing she can still walk.

So, Ms. Fluke and the rest of you feminazis, here's the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it, and I'll tell you what it is. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.

On March 2, Limbaugh added:

[Limbaugh offered what he said was a "compromise" to contraception coverage: purchasing] all the women at Georgetown University as much aspirin to put between their knees as possible.

From Wikipedia:

On March 3, 2012 Limbaugh defended his previous comments about Fluke and complained that "not one person says that, 'Well, did you ever think about maybe backing off the amount of sex that you have?". Limbaugh said that requiring insurance companies to cover contraception is "no different than if somebody knocked on my door that I don't know and said, 'You know what? I'm out of money. I can't afford birth-control pills, and I'm supposed to have sex with three guys tonight.' " On her parents being proud of her he said, "I'm gonna button my lip on that one." He went on to say that if his daughter had testified that "she's having so much sex she can't pay for it and wants a new welfare program to pay for it," he'd be "embarrassed" and "disconnect the phone," "go into hiding," and "hope the media didn't find me." He continued later, "Oh! Does she have more boyfriends? They're lined up around the block. They would have been in my day." He continued that Fluke testified that her "sex life is active. She's having sex so frequently that she can't afford all the birth-control pills that she needs. That's what she's saying."

My Initial Reaction
Have I picked my jaw up off the floor yet? Where to begin? This is the type of talk I'd expect to hear from a redneck male chauvinist pig who's had one too many beers on a Saturday night. But considering the absolutely death-defying leaps of logic and lack of fundamental knowledge about the world spewing from the mouths of the GOP candidates vying for the position of Republican representative to run against the Democratic Obama in the 2012 elections, I think I'm no longer surprised by anything. As I commented elsewhere when this story first broke:

Rush Limbaugh is a caricature of everything one could possibly hate in an American male: right wing, religious fundamentalist, Republican, sexist, misogynist. In a nutshell, he is a doofus. Admittedly, if he didn't have such an audience, he would be laughable but the fact he does have an audience says a lot about the number of people in the U.S. like him and that's not funny.

This gentleman, and I use the term very loosely, is an anal orifice. No maybe I can punch that one up a notch by saying he's a hemorrhoid on America's anus. Yes, that's better. Rush exists much in the same way MRA's exist. They are in the minority (thank God) but still represent a vocal group with some influence in the circles of power. Consequently we all must continue to fight the good fight for fear the dips**ts get into power. Can anybody say, "Rick Santorum"? (Wikipedia: Campaign for "santorum" neologism)

Freedom of Religion
I imagine that everyone would start by saying they were for this freedom. But at one point does anybody step in if they disagree with the religion in question? In the late 1800's, the U.S. government entered into a conflict with Utah over the practice of polygamy. (Wikipedia: Mormons: Pioneer era) In 1993, the ATF laid siege to the Branch Davidian ranch at Waco, Texas. (Wikipedia: Waco siege) Do Christian Scientists and other like religions have the right to decline medical treatment for themselves or their children? (Wikipedia: Christian Science: Medical controversies)

The above examples may seem far from the mainstream. Some may consider, for example David Koresh of the Waco siege to be quite simply a nutbar. However, what about the mainstream? What about us?

The Roman Catholic Church has been mixed up in questionable practices over the years: the Medieval Inquisition, the Spanish Inquisition or the Crusades. But that was then and this is now. But, but, but what about now? Who's going to be the first to utter the word pedophilia?

In my 2010 posting "Abortion: If we make it illegal, the problem will go away", I wrote:

My wife and I watched a news item on television last night which stated that every year 25,000 women die from unsafe abortions in Africa and 1.7 million are injured. Due to the restrictive laws governing abortions in almost all African countries, virtually all of the 5.6 million abortions performed annually in Africa are unsafe. Apparently only about 100,000 of them are performed by trained professionals in a safe environment. The news item went on the cover various religious groups in these African countries who are lobbying to keep abortions illegal and one minister who was interviewed proudly said that he has having a big impact in maintaining laws which make abortions illegal.

I then went on to report:

In March 2009, the Pope visited Africa and during his trip he reaffirmed the church's ban on the use of condoms. Never mind talking about pregnancy, the numbers related to AIDS were staggering. At that moment, 22 million people were infected with HIV in Africa; there were 11.4 orphans because of AIDS; 1.5 million had died of AIDS in Africa in 2007 and 25 million had died in the past 20 years.

Polygamy. Waco, Texas. Denial of medical treatment. Each of these three cases are small, far from the mainstream and easily dismissible when we all get caught up in the more pressing issues of modern times. However are we fully cognizant of the issues, the truly important issues going on right now under our noses which may require our intervention, our collective intervention that is our government's intervention in what may be abhorrent on a cataclysmic level?

In my posting "Abortion: Rick Perry and Sex Education: Abstinence works!", I pointed out the glaring hole in the arguments presented by religious groups. If we all drove safely, there would be no need for safety belts and there would be no accidents. 33,808 people died in traffic accidents in the United States in 2009. If we all abstained from having sex, there would be no unwanted pregnancies, no abortions and no worries about STDs and AIDS. There are 33 million on the planet currently living with HIV with 1.8 million dying from AIDS annually. In the United States, 18,000 people die each year from AIDS. The CDC reports for 2009 more than 1.2 million cases of chlamydia, 301,174 reported cases of gonorrhea and 13,997 reported cases of syphilis. CDC estimates that undiagnosed and untreated STDs cause at least 24,000 women in the U.S. each year to become infertile. 827,609 legal induced abortions were reported to CDC in 2007 although the Guttmacher Institute reports 1.2 million in 2008. (CDC reporting is voluntary while the institute actively gets the numbers.) Statistics Canada reports 96,815 induced abortions were performed in Canada in 2005.

In my posting "Planned Parenthood: addicting children to sex!!!", I describe how the pro-life organisation American Life League views sex as only for procreation and anything which interferes with procreation such as condoms, birth control, IUDs, etc. is verboten. They have put Planned Parenthood in their sights as enemy number one in their campaign to bring their vision of a moral America back to Americans everywhere.

Government Mandated Health Coverage
Myth: The United States has the best health care in the world. Fact: The U.S. has among the worst health statistics of all rich nations.

Wikipedia: Health care in the United States: Overall system effectiveness compared to other countries

• The CIA World Factbook ranked the United States 41st in the world for infant mortality rate and 46th for total life expectancy.
• The U.S. stands 50th in the world for a life expectancy of 78.37.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2000 ranked the U.S. health care system first in responsiveness, but 37th in overall performance and 72nd by overall level of health (among 191 member nations included in the study).
• The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 45.7 million Americans (15.3% of the total population) had no health insurance coverage in 2007.

Sidebar: Steve Kanga's facts and figures on U.S. Health Care
The U.S. does not have the best health care system in the world - it has the best emergency care system in the world. Advanced U.S. medical technology has not translated into better health statistics for its citizens; indeed, the U.S. ranks near the bottom in list after list of international comparisons. Part of the problem is that there is more profit in a pound of cure than an ounce of prevention. Another part of the problem is that America has the highest level of poverty and income inequality among all rich nations, and poverty affects one's health much more than the limited ministrations of a formal health care system.

The Examiner - Aug 3/2009
The United States does not have the best health care system in the world by Karen Harper
In fact, it's not even close to being the best health care system in the world. Republicans have fought President Obama on every bill he has worked on and health care reform is no exception. Senator Richard Shelby (R), Alabama, said that President Obama's health care plan is the "first step in destroying the best health care system the world has ever known." Senator Chuck Grassley (R), Iowa, told a constituent in a town hall meeting that if he wanted health insurance to get a job with the government. Perhaps Grassley would like the government to provide 47 million jobs to solve the problem of the uninsured in America.

There are several important aspects about the United States health care system that make it one of the worst of all the industrialized nations.

1. Cost
The truth is that Americans pay more for health care than any other country in the world.

2. Quality of Health
The United States ranks only 27th in life expectancy of 189 countries. Of the 30 OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations, the United States ranks only 22nd in life expectancy.

3. Not covering the uninsured makes things worse
The uninsured, approximately 47 million, go to emergency rooms. The "health system" does provide free emergency services however providing services in an emergency room, especially for more minor ailments is expensive, much more expensive than the normal treatments associated with a family doctor. As a consequence, by not providing health insurance to the uninsured, the system bears a greater financial burden.

Government Mandated Health Coverage = Socialism!!!

Government Mandated Health Coverage = Why support those deadbeats who can't pay?

Government Mandated Health Coverage = More government regulation!

Socialism? What happened to helping your fellow human being? Deadbeats? Yes, there are some deadbeats but don't tar and feather everybody who may not be as lucky as you. Government regulation? The 2008 financial crisis was caused by a lack of government regulation. The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by a lack of government regulation. Shall I go on? The government in its wisdom has concluded we should all drive 60 mph. The government isn't telling us where we can go, it is saying it's just safer if we get there no faster than 60. That's government regulation making our lives better.

Contraception
The American Life League, one of the largest pro-life organisations in the United States, states their view of sex on their web site:

The sexual drive in human beings was created by God to fulfill two interrelated purposes—to bring a close union between a married man and woman engaging in intimate sexual behavior (the "unitive" purpose of sex), and to provide a means to propagate the race (the "procreative" purpose of sex). To be true to the natural law that guides all human action, any act of sexual intercourse must occur within marriage and be open to both the unitive and procreative purposes. (from the page on PP)

In my posting Planned Parenthood: Addicting children to sex!!! I describe how this organisation is not just against abortion, but against contraception and sex education. The American Life League feels abstinence is the way and the only way of dealing with the question of unwanted pregnancies. Does this idea work?

Is the correct answer counter-intuitive?
Countries, states, municipalities have set up needle-exchange programs for drug addicts. Is such a public policy actually condoning or even promoting the use of illicit drugs? From Wikipedia: Needle-exchange programme:

A needle & syringe programme (NSP) or syringe-exchange programme (SEP) is a social policy based on the philosophy of harm reduction where injecting drug users (IDUs) can obtain hypodermic needles and associated injection equipment at little or no cost. ... The aim of these services is to reduce the damage associated with using unsterile or contaminated injecting equipment.

A comprehensive study by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2004 stated that there is a "compelling case that NSPs substantially and cost effectively reduce the spread of HIV among IDUs and do so without evidence of exacerbating injecting drug use at either the individual or societal level." The WHO's findings have also been supported by the American Medical Association (AMA), which strongly supports NSPs.

The Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit organization which works to advance reproductive health including abortion rights, published the following 2009 article:

By providing millions of young and low-income women access to voluntary contraceptive services, the national family planning program prevents 1.94 million unintended pregnancies, including almost 400,000 teen pregnancies, each year. These pregnancies would result in 860,000 unintended births, 810,000 abortions and 270,000 miscarriages, according to a new Guttmacher Institute report.

In the 2005 non-fiction book Freakonomics, University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner analyze several commonly held "truths" including abortion and its relation to crime. During the 90's crime rates dropped and everybody was attributing this to better crime prevention. Levitt proved a correlation between the drop in crime and the legalization of abortion in the U.S. in the 1970s. Apparently, many abortions were occurring in lower income, possibly single parent families; families who were more susceptible to producing children who eventually ended up involved in crime. (Wikipedia: Legalized abortion and crime effect) (my blog Abortion: My final word on unwanted pregnancy)

Final Word
I abhor specious argumentation when somebody is defending a political stance. Two plus two equals four and it doesn't matter whether you're Democrat or Conservative, left or right. However, how to get the arguer to comprehend that their understanding of the problem is inaccurate, ideology based (as opposed to reality based) or just plain wrong?

You can't defend Rush
I don't have to give you my remarks as the American journalist George Will summed it up nicely.

The Daily Beast - Mar 5/2012
Signs of Hope: George Will Berates GOP Cowardice by Noah Kristula-Green
“[House Speaker John] Boehner comes out and says Rush’s language was inappropriate. Using the salad fork for your entrée, that’s inappropriate. Not this stuff,” Will said.

Specious argumentation is deeply entrenched
Religious freedom? The freedom to force your will on the masses? The freedom to go against common thought? The freedom to set up rules and a system which will lead to unnecessary pain, suffering and even death? Literally the freedom to kill?

The blind adherence to a belief system, an ideology is so ingrained in some people; change will only come about when those people eventually grow old and die leaving the planet to those with a more enlightened view. The following comment in a Canadian newspaper reporting on the Rush Limbaugh story unwittingly shows to the world a commentator who is very much cut in the same cloth as far right Conservative Limbaugh ilk.

The National Post - Mar 6/2012
In the land of Limbaugh, no insult is too low by Araminta Wordsworth

Comment from Hobbitall
This is all a politically correct media goon squad deflection from the real issue.

The issue is whether Catholic institutions should be forced into paying for contraceptives by the government when it is against their moral and religious beliefs. And if the government succeeds how long until they are forced to pay for and provide abortions.

Government wants to have it's boot on the throat of religious beliefs and replace those beliefs with state decree.

How did civilization ever survive the tyranny of people paying for their own contraceptives before our savior Obamacare?

The PC media goon squad and feminazis want you tho think it's about the word slut and not about religious freedom.

My final, final word
Whether you are a man or a woman, you are a human being and deserve equal opportunity to education, employment and yes, even health care. However, I admit a man has a penis and a woman has a vagina and therein lies some fundamental differences in what health care is supposed to be for each sex. A bunch of guys, a bunch of religious guys to boot get together to make a decision about health care for the ladies? I got an idea. How about we make it mandatory that every man have a vasectomy at the age of 11 and he can't get it reversed until he's 35? A little harsh? Okay, I'll drop the age to 34 but I demand to see last year's tax return, proof of employment for the same job during the past 2 years and a psych evaluation showing he would be a stable, caring father. Is it just me or did all those religious leaders, the Conservative politicians and even Rush miss the part of the story where women have to have sex with a man to get pregnant? Why are they holding the woman responsible but letting the guy off scot-free?

In my posting "Sex: I'm a man and you're a...", I discuss the double standard as it exists in our society. I mention the book The Hite Report on Men and Male Sexuality (1981), in which the author, after interviewing about 5,000 men, said that the most common "theme" of their take on sex was this: women don't like sex. What a conundrum. We have a puritanical society with a culture which vilifies women for being open about their sexuality and yet secretly men would like nothing more than a woman who is "interested in it". Well guys, talk about collectively shooting ourselves in the foot!

Rush Limbaugh is the tip of the iceberg. There is a puritanical, patriarchal ideology so deeply entrenched in part of our culture it is now obvious generations or centuries will be necessary to overturn the status quo. But there is hope. Note that I said "entrenched in part of our culture". There is the deeply traditional, religious fundamentalist base which is unable to deal with a world which is evolving before its eyes but there are the liberals, the progressives, the experimenters who are questioning the status quo and pushing the bounds of what has been traditionally acceptable.


References

Wikipedia: Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (born January 12, 1951) is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United States. Limbaugh signed an 8-year, $400 million contract extension with Clear Channel in 2008.

Wikipedia: The Rush Limbaugh Show
The Rush Limbaugh Show (also called The Rush Limbaugh Program) is an American talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh on Premiere Radio Networks. Since its nationally syndicated premiere in 1988, The Rush Limbaugh Show has become the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States.

New York Times: Rush Limbaugh
His show went national, and revolutionized radio in America. Michael Harrison, the editor of Talkers magazine, puts Mr. Limbaugh's weekly audience at 14 million. Mr. Limbaugh says it is closer to 20 million. Either way, nobody else is close. Mr. Limbaugh signed an eight-year contract in 2008 that he estimated would bring in about $38 million a year, plus a nine-figure signing bonus.

Wikipedia: Sandra Fluke
Sandra Kay Fluke (born April 17, 1981) is a Georgetown University law student, American feminist activist, and an ex-employee of a nonprofit advocating for victims of domestic violence. She was a proposed Democratic witness to a Congressional hearing on contraception. She was denied the opportunity to testify before the hearing and subsequently testified before Democratic members of the House of Representatives. Rush Limbaugh then begin a controversy by commenting on her testimony.

Wikipedia: Rush Limbaugh–Sandra Fluke controversy
On February 29, 2012, American conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh responded to a statement made by by Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke to the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, on February 23, 2012 about mandated health coverage for contraceptives. The statement was not "Congressional testimony" as was widely reported.

The Good Men Project - Mar 1/2012
Why Do We Live in a World That's Petrified of Women Who Love Sex? by Noah Brand
My culture tells me I’m supposed to like sex, supposed to make it a high priority, indeed supposed to define my worth as a person by it. I’m a man, after all.

Big Little Wolf's Daily Plate of Crazy - Mar 4/2012
Contraception. Personhood. Let Me Say This… About That.
I’m just trying to read my Sunday Times. And enjoy perusing my fave Must-See sites. But it’s impossible to avoid news coverage on contraception and the ongoing battle of wills and words over health insurance, abortion, personhood, and related subjects. For most of the women I know over the age of 40, and of course for me as well, it’s a strangely anachronistic (outlandish?) debate. For one thing, the premise of not covering contraception is akin to punishing women for their sexuality. And it’s illogical. If men abstained from sex, women would have no need of contraception. There! Problem solved!

Open Salon - Mar 2/2012
Single Parents are Abusive and Negligent by Fay Paxton
According to Senator Grothman single parenting is all part of a leftist conspiracy....” The Left and the social welfare establishment want children born out of wedlock because they are far more likely to be dependent on the government.”

HuffPost Media - Mar 3/2012
Rush Limbaugh Apologizes To Sandra Fluke For Calling Her A 'Slut'
After a media and political firestorm, Rush Limbaugh issued an apology on Saturday for calling student Sandra Fluke a "slut" on his radio show this week.

2012-03-14

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According to Wikipedia, the American Life League (ALL) is one of the largest pro-life organizations in the United States. The organization opposes abortion under any circumstance, contraception, embryonic stem cell research, and euthanasia. The organization's official web site states that [ALL] is a 501(c)(3) organization co-founded in 1979 by Judie Brown and nine other dedicated pro-life Americans. It is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life education organization in the United States.

With that introduction, I move on to note that ALL has an axe to grind with Planned Parenthood. From the ALL web site: Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) is the nation’s largest operator of abortion facilities in the United States and has admitted to committing over 4,000,000 post-implantation abortion procedures since it first started doing them in New York state in 1970.

While this sky-is-falling rhetoric is enough to incense any God-fearing pro-lifer into fire-bombing the nearest PP office, I note from About.Com: Only 3% of Planned Parenthood's services are abortion services. The other 97% includes testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, cancer screening and prevention, and pregnancy testing and prenatal services.

However, if I think ALL is over-emphasizing PP's involvement in abortion, I find that ALL does take exception to everything PP does. Why? Because it relates to sex. And how does the ALL view sex?

The sexual drive in human beings was created by God to fulfill two interrelated purposes—to bring a close union between a married man and woman engaging in intimate sexual behavior (the "unitive" purpose of sex), and to provide a means to propagate the race (the "procreative" purpose of sex). To be true to the natural law that guides all human action, any act of sexual intercourse must occur within marriage and be open to both the unitive and procreative purposes. (from the page on PP)

From there ALL clearly states that it is immoral for Planned Parenthood to facilitate sexual intercourse outside of marriage. Likewise, it is immoral for PP to promote and distribute products, such as those listed above [contraceptives, etc. and IUDs], as well as condoms, which artificially attempt to render procreation impossible, even to those who are married. From here, ALL goes on to say that PP is promoting "secular humanism", a non-theistic philosophy which rejects the supernatural and thus rejects God and admits to no objective moral code.

When it comes to sex (I am so tempted to write "come" with a U), ALL pulls out all the stops.

Planned Parenthood promotes a type of sex-education for children that denies the very truth and meaning of human sexuality. Such perverted education breaks down natural inhibitions. As a result, there is an increased demand for artificial birth control and abortion. A long-term effect of such education is that it tends to create citizens who will support PP’s agenda.

Merde de taureau
If you've read any of my previous postings, you will know that nothing infuriates me more than people who attempt to support their political, religious or moral agenda by issuing statements of supposed fact with no corroborating evidence. Yep, they give no concrete evidence, no statistics, nothing which could be confirmed by a university sanctioned analytic methodology of double blind testing with a statistically significant cross-section of the population. Nope, I have a direct link to the Almighty Himself and I know what He wants. How odd. My God just told me you don't know what you're talking about. (I think he meant you're full of s**t, but He's a polite god.)

Such perverted [sex] education breaks down natural inhibitions. As a result, there is an increased demand for artificial birth control and abortion.

In my blog posting Abortion: My final word on unwanted pregnancy, I point out the following which may seem counter-intuitive to some but which clearly demonstrates that what you believe to be right may not be the right way of achieving your goal.

Huffington Post - Feb 24/2009
"Pro-Life" Movement Admits Pro-Abortion Stance by Cristina Page
Sometimes referred to as "The Pro-life Paradox," researchers and women's health advocates in recent years have drawn attention to the disparities between the mission statements of so-called "anti-abortion" groups and the effects of their policies. For example, the countries considered the most "pro-choice," where contraception is widely available and abortion is legal, and often free of charge, are those that also have the lowest abortion rates in the world. The countries with the highest rates of abortion are those that have adopted the policies of the so-called "anti-abortion" movement and have banned abortion and opposed efforts to make contraception more widely available.

I am "pro-choice" and "anti-abortion"
I'm repeating myself bla bla bla but will do so here one more time. What does an abortion represent? An unwanted pregnancy. How to stop a pregnancy from being unwanted? Only get pregnant when you want. If every pregnancy was a "wanted" pregnancy, there would be no abortions. Why would anybody abort what they wanted? This is so freakin' obvious, I have no idea why we are even discussing this. Two plus two equals four, right? But oh no, somebody has to come along and throw a monkey wrench into the whole shebang by then saying the only way, yes the only acceptable method of not getting pregnant is to not have sex. *stunned silence* Yeah, right. Like that is going to happen. And yeah like me as a man, I'm going to vote for that? Never mind fluoride, the authorities should be putting Depo-Provera in the water. (Wikipedia: Chemical castration)

Sex is bad! bad! bad!
Sex is a wonderful, beautiful thing. For a lack of a better way of expressing it, I will say that it is truly a gift from God. But we collectively are so confused about it, so embarrassed by it and so afraid of it that we avoid it like the plague in the hopes we will never have to deal with this most personal of issues.

The following video, published by the ALL, portrays Planned Parenthood in the most negative of lights. The narrator starts off by saying that PP is "obsessed with sex". (Hmmm, is my plumber "obsessed" with plumbing?) Here are few lines to whet your appetite for watching this most unbelievable of videos.

What is truly shocking is how these perverts are allowed unfettered access to our children

Just as the goal of a drug deal is to make drug addicts, Planned Parenthood’s goal is to make sex addicts. And they follow the same business model. For instance, Planned Parenthood’s gateway drug is masturbation.


Uploaded by AmericanLifeLeague on Feb 27, 2012
Hooking Kids on Sex II
Planned Parenthood exposes children to sexual material in order to seed a generation of sex addicts, who will become future customers for the abortion giant. This report exposes Planned Parenthood's sex-education programs, using images from Planned Parenthood's own websites, social networks, and events.



Final Word
How do you spell double U tee eff? It's at this point I put one elbow on my computer desk, lean over and put my forehead in the palm of my head. Oh... my... gawd... Over the past few years, I have heard right-wing people in criticizing Barack Obama make comparisons to Nazi Germany, trying through hyperbole (I think they actually believe this to be a valid comparison) to make things out worse than they are. But just imagine what would happen if Rick Santorum or Michele Bachmann or even the president of ALL, Judie Brown, somehow came to power. We would all be knocked back to the dark ages. We would be burning people at the stake, using blood-letting as a home remedy and putting chastity belts on girls. Am I exaggerating? Planned Parenthood gone. Legal abortions gone. Sex Education gone. Free condoms gone. Sex gone. It would truly be George Orwell's 1984 with its dystopian double speak and mind control. Your dalliances would be secretive, shameful, and under risk of discovery. ... No wait, that's right now!

Ladies and gentlemen, we are so in trouble. But do we know it? Instead of opening the door and bringing into the sunshine what is a normal, God-given part of our human existence, there are those who want to padlock the door then nail it shut to never ever deal with the issues hidden behind it. Perverted? I'll tell you who's perverted.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a cold shower before I commit a "thoughtcrime" and end up having to take a hit of my gateway drug.


References

Wikipedia: American Life League
The American Life League (ALL) is one of the largest pro-life organizations in the United States. The organization opposes abortion under any circumstance, contraception, embryonic stem cell research, and euthanasia. Its current president is co-founder Judie Brown and its headquarters are in Stafford, Virginia

Controversy
In the mid-1990s, the American Life League boycotted the Walt Disney Company over the film Priest, in which a Roman Catholic priest deals with a variety of issues including his own homosexuality. Subsequently, ALL charged that Disney had concealed subliminal sexual messages in the animated films The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin. Disney denied all claims made by American Life League.

official web site: American Life League
American Life League is a 501(c)(3) organization co-founded in 1979 by Judie Brown and nine other dedicated pro-life Americans. It is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life education organization in the United States. ALL is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. It is rooted in pro-life integrity that stands up for every innocent human being whose life is threatened by what Pope John Paul II called "the culture of death." That ranges from the single cell human embryo to the elderly, the infirm and others at risk of having their life terminated by acts of euthanasia. The pro-life position notes that neither abortion nor euthanasia can ever be medically necessary or morally permitted.

Wikipedia: Judie Brown
Judith Ann Limbourne "Judie" Brown (born March 4, 1944, Los Angeles, California) is the president and co-founder of the American Life League, reportedly the largest Catholic pro-life organization in the United States. It was founded in 1979.

The Washington Post Sep 1/1995
Disney's Loin King? Group Sees Dirt in the Dust By Leef Smith, Washington Post Staff Writer
You say you've watched "The Lion King" 50 times with your children and never caught the "sex" scene?
...
The most recent example, it says, involves Simba, star of Disney's "Lion King." Forlorn over the death of his father, the young lion flops dejectedly on the ground near the edge of a cliff. The result, offended viewers say, is a cloud of dust particles that swirls and swoops to form the word "sex," and then quickly fades away.
...
ALL says it first learned about the "Lion King" scene in July when a New York woman called to say that her 4-year-old son caught the message. The group -- which began a boycott of Disney films in April to protest the movie "Priest," saying that it misrepresented the Catholic Church -- claims the company has a long history of sneaking "sexual messages" into its animated films.

In particular, ALL has denounced a scene in "Aladdin" in which it says a voice whispers, "Good teenagers, take off your clothes." The Disney script reads: "Scat! Good Tiger. Take off and go."

Even more troubling, the group says, is a scene in "The Little Mermaid" in which the minister at Ariel's wedding allegedly gets an erection. Disney says the critics are seeing the minister's knee.

About.Com: Reproductive Rights and Issues
A great divide exists in this country, fueled by the debate over reproductive rights, contraception and prevention. Many thoughtful and passionate arguments have been put forth by pro-life and pro-choice advocates, and legislation has shifted back and forth over the years. Yet neither has seen a firm resolution to the ongoing conflict over Roe v. Wade.

About.Com: What does Planned Parenthood do? What are their services? Do they do mammograms? by Linda Lowen
Only 3% of Planned Parenthood's services are abortion services. The other 97% includes testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, cancer screening and prevention, and pregnancy testing and prenatal services.

38% - Testing of and treatment for Sexually Transmitted Diseases/Infections (STDs/STIs)
33.5% - Contraception (including reversible and permanent)
14.5% - Cancer screening and prevention
10.4% - Other women's health services
3% - Abortion services
0.6% - Other health services

About.Com: Planned Parenthood / Susan G. Komen Funding Flap - Controversy and Repercussions by Linda Lowen
Many blamed Komen's policy change on one woman -- a recent addition to Komen's management team, pro-life advocate Karen Handel. Opponents noted that during a failed gubernatorial run in Georgia, Handel had made clear her intent to defund Planned Parenthood if elected and had continued to purse that agenda in her new position at Komen.

It took less than a week for controversial Komen Vice President Karen Handel to step down from her post at a breast cancer charity organization that could do no wrong until it attempted to cut funding for Planned Parenthood. What a difference a week makes. Gone is the universal goodwill toward Komen, gone is the grassroots support of millions of women who have been touched by breast cancer, either in their own lives or in the lives of those they love, and gone is the brand that made pink ribbons ubiquitous in our culture. What arose out of the debacle are three key points:

1. much of the nation still doesn't understand what Planned Parenthood does
2. the politics of how decision are made are frequently masked
3. the power of social media cannot be underestimated as a tool of political activism

2012-02-29

Site Map - William Quincy Belle

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Reprinted from September 7, 2011

I shake my head. I'm startled by what I've just read. Condoms don't work. At all? What!?! Game over; pack up your bags. We're all going home to get the ol' vasa deferentia cut which will hopefully make a vast difference in the success rate of our contraceptives. On September 4, 2011, the web site The Digital Journal published what it labelled an opt-ed piece entitled "The ugly truth about condoms and 'safe sex'" by one Alexander Baron. Mr. Baron, the author, starts his article by making the statement, "The shocking truth about condoms though is that they don’t work." It's at this point I furrowed my brow trying to discern if our supposed expert was pulling my leg.

Mr. Baron goes on to refer to a web site Center for Young Women's Health which has a chart showing the failure rate of condoms as a contraceptive is 14%. Just to confirm I consulted the Wikipedia article on condoms which took me to the web site Contraceptive Technology which confirmed the numbers fairly closely setting the failure rate at 15%.

While Mr. Baron points out that this means condoms are 86% successful he wonders if any of us would be willing to get in an airplane if we were told that 86% of the time the plane does not crash. Well, to be quite frank, I might not be so inclined to catch a flight to my favourite holiday destination if I thought there was a 14% chance I might not either get there or get home again. One point for Mr. Baron.

Having covered the condom as a contraceptive, the author goes on to speculate about the efficiency of the condom in preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Syphilis? Gonorrhea? How about HIV? AIDS? You have a fourteen percent chance of contracting one of these diseases while using a condom. Is anybody still in the mood for love?

However using a condom can give a person a false sense of security. And here Mr. Baron turns to road safety for a comparison saying that campaigners in his native Great Britain were telling everyone for years how dangerous it was to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. He cites a woman who came off her bike at 40mph and claimed to have been saved by her helmet. Mr. Baron responds, "No, dummy, if you hadn't been wearing a helmet, you wouldn't have been riding so fast." Ah, the author thinks the helmet gave the woman a false sense of security and so inspired her to drive faster than she normally would.

Finally, Mr. Baron turns to the Catholic News Agency for the 2001 article "Surprise: Study Finds Condoms Don't Work" by Mary Beth Bonacci. Ms. Bonacci writes:

On July 20, a report was issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A scientific panel co-sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), developed the report. It was based on a yearlong study in which 28 researchers reviewed 138 peer-reviewed, published studies on the heterosexual transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STD).

Their findings were stunning. Basically, it boils down to this: There is no evidence to indicate that condoms prevent the heterosexual transmission of most sexually transmitted diseases. None.

Mary Beth Bonacci concludes the article by saying, "Save sex for marriage. Marry an uninfected partner. And remain faithful. That, my friends, is safe sex."

Safe Sex: Conclusion
Where do I start? Has anybody concluded that Alexander Baron is Catholic? I looked at this and said to myself that the specious argumentation leads us once again straight back to abstinence. I can't disagree with the idea that if I don't stick my penis in a vagina, a woman isn't going to get pregnant or I'm not going to get an STD or worse, AIDS. But that's distilling the problem down to pure logic and does not in any way take into account the bigger picture of the statistics associated with human behaviour across the globe in a multitude of social environments. It certainly doesn't take into account that as our state of horniness goes up; our capacity to rationalise might just creep up too.

In my blog Rick Perry and Sex Education: Abstinence works!, I followed the above logic by pointing out that if we all drove safely, we wouldn't need safety belts. However the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that 10,000 lives are saved every year due to safety belts. (Wikipedia: Seat belt legislation) Maybe Alexander Baron would say that because of safety belts, we all have a false sense of security and are driving recklessly. Even if that's true, you're not going to find me driving around not wearing one. That would be, ah, reckless!

By the way, I found this 2001 report "Scientific Evidence on Condom Effectiveness for Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Prevention" referenced by Mary Beth Bonacci and it does not say condoms are useless. At worst, it says the researchers don't have enough information to make an accurate unbiased assessment one way or another since the studies at hand were not originally done properly to support such a conclusion. However it does indicate that the researchers found statistical benefits to the use of condoms in the prevention of the spreading of disease. Mary Beth Bonacci is stacking the deck in favour of her Catholic perspective on condoms.

14% failure rate
Mr. Baron is leading us all astray. The statistics he cites and the corroborating stats I found show a 14% and 15% failure rate respectively for "typical use" as opposed to "perfect use". Typical? Perfect? The sources define these two terms as meaning:

Typical Use:
When contraception is not used every time, or it is not used according to instructions every time.

Perfect Use:
When contraception is used every time, and it is used according to instructions every time.

So, typical use means the person in question is not following procedures all the time or perfectly. Consequently, a certain rate of failure is added. When the person does follow procedures "perfectly", the rate of failure drops to 3% and 2% respectively. What? That's quite an area of improvement. Instead of saying that condoms are useless, it would seem that better education about their use could move the success rate from 86% to 97% or 98%.

Ah but Mr. Baron leaves out an even more startling statistic. Each of the above sources of stats clearly indicates that if no condom is used at all, the rate of failure is 85%. Hey, don't do anything at all and your chances of pregnancy or disease are, well, pretty much guaranteed. At 85%, if somebody didn't get pregnant or contract a disease, I'd say that is luck pure and simple.

Final Word
Alexander Baron has to be Catholic. Either that or he's an idiot. Anybody who argues to do nothing including the doing nothing of abstinence is arguing against human nature. Yes, logically my penis not being in another human being means no pregnancy and no disease. But put a couple of drinks in me with a partner who is ready, willing and able and I'm going to be telling the Pope to take a hike. I was going to tell the Pope to go **** himself but I've been given to understand he's celibate.

From my blog Abortion: My final word on unwanted pregnancy:

[The Guttmacher Report] specifically concluded that making contraception available to low income women reduces the number of abortions by nearly 40%. When birth control isn't available unintended pregnancy increases by 2 million and the number of abortions spikes by more than 800,000 each year. Researchers noted that providing contraception saves taxpayers 4 times as much as not providing it.

Some 91% of Americans favor contraception and so were startled to discover that groups which claim to be against abortion oppose the very strategy that results in significant declines in abortion. Instead, in a further shock, they support policies that researchers show lead to sharp increases in unintended pregnancy and abortion rate.

I sit here absolutely stunned. Instead of making seat belts mandatory, Alexander Baron, Mary Beth Bonacci and even GOP candidate Rick Perry persist with the idea that if you drive safely, you won't need a safety belt. Instead of improving education about condoms to get their failure rate from 14% (typical use) to 3% (perfect use), they say condoms are useless suggesting we shouldn't use them at all which means a failure rate of 86%.

That's it. Alexander Baron is a Catholic and an idiot.


References

DigitalJournal - Sep 4/2011
Op-Ed: The ugly truth about condoms and ‘safe sex’ by Alexander Baron
Condoms are back in the news again, this time for a novel reason; one campaigning organisation is calling for them to be made compulsory for porn stars. The shocking truth about condoms though is that they don’t work.

Wikipedia: Condom
A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases (STDs—such as gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV).

However, according to a study in the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Journal of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association condoms have a breakage rate of 2.3% and a slippage rate of 1.3% which "may translate into a high risk for individuals who are very sexually active." With proper knowledge and application technique—and use at every act of intercourse—women whose partners use male condoms experience a 2% per-year pregnancy rate with perfect use and a 15% per-year pregnancy rate with typical use.

Summary Table of Contraceptive Efficacy
Percentage of women experiencing an unintended pregnancy during the first year of typical use and the first year of perfect use of contraception and the percentage continuing use at the end of the first year. United States.

Typical Use
Among typical couples who initiate use of a method (not necessarily for the first time), the percentage who experience an accidental pregnancy during the first year if they do not stop use for any other reason. Estimates of the probability of pregnancy during the first year of typical use for spermicides, withdrawal, periodic abstinence, the diaphragm, the male condom, the pill, and Depo-Provera are taken from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth corrected for underreporting of abortion; see the text for the derivation of estimates for the other methods.

Perfect Use
Among couples who initiate use of a method (not necessarily for the first time) and who use it perfectly (both consistently and correctly), the percentage who experience an accidental pregnancy during the first year if they do not stop use for any other reason. See the text for the derivation of the estimate for each method.

Center for Young Women's Health: Success and Failure Rates of Contraceptives
Typical use of male condom: 14 out of a hundred women become pregnant
Perfect use of male condom: 3 out of a hundred women become pregnant

Typical Use:
When contraception is not used every time, or it is not used according to instructions every time.
Perfect Use:
When contraception is used every time, and it is used according to instructions every time.

Wikipedia: Vasectomy
Vasectomy is a surgical procedure for male sterilization and/or permanent birth control. During the procedure, the vasa deferentia of a man are severed, and then tied/sealed in a manner such to prevent sperm from entering into the seminal stream (ejaculate). Vasectomies are usually performed in a physician's office or medical clinic.

DigitalJournal: Bio of Alexander Baron
Semi-retired, writing mostly music stuff at the moment for an on-line database. Researching and writing are about the only things I've ever been any good at. Apart from chess, but at 55 I'm too old to play games.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services
July 20, 2001
Scientific Evidence on Condom Effectiveness for Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Prevention
Recently, a number of Federal agencies sponsored a workshop to answer the following question: "What is the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of latex male condom-use to prevent STD transmission during vaginal intercourse?" This workshop was attended by 180 persons, and the data from numerous peer-reviewed published studies were discussed. Following the workshop, a panel of 28 experts worked to develop this report.

In general, the Panel found the published epidemiology literature to be inadequate to definitively answer the question posed to the workshop participants.
...
The published data documenting effectiveness of the male condom were strongest for HIV.
...
four epidemiological studies of gonorrhea indicated that the latex male condom could reduce the risk of gonorrhea for men.

my blog: Abortion: My final word on unwanted pregnancy

my blog Rick Perry and Sex Education: Abstinence works!

2012-02-20

Site Map - William Quincy Belle

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Reprinted from September 1, 2011

Don't have sex. It's so obvious. It's so logical. Why are we even talking? Don't have sex and you don't get pregnant. Don't have sex and you don't get an STD. Don't have sex and you don't get AIDS. What's not to get about this?

Drive safely and you won't have an accident. Follow the posted speed limit and not only will you not get a speeding ticket, you won't have an accident. Keep your hands on the wheel and your attention focused on driving without talking on a cellphone or texting or reading or eating your lunch and you won't have an accident. Heck, who needs a seat belt? If we all follow the rules, we won't need traffic cops or radar traps. Why are we even talking?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published that 33,808 people died in traffic accidents in the United States in 2009. The published stats going back 16 years show a total of 661,403 deaths or an average of 41,338 per year. It seems that 2009 was a good year.

Drive safely and you won't have an accident? How's that one workin' out for ya?

According to UNAIDS.Org, there are 33 million on the planet currently living with HIV (2009). The same report estimates that in 2009, 1.8 million died from AIDS.

In the United States, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 18,000 people die each year from AIDS.

The CDC reports for 2009 more than 1.2 million cases of chlamydia, 301,174 reported cases of gonorrhea and 13,997 reported cases of syphilis. CDC estimates that undiagnosed and untreated STDs cause at least 24,000 women in the U.S. each year to become infertile.

827,609 legal induced abortions were reported to CDC in 2007 although the Guttmacher Institute reports 1.2 million in 2008. (CDC reporting is voluntary while the institute actively gets the numbers.) Statistics Canada reports 96,815 induced abortions were performed in Canada in 2005.

Theory versus Reality
In theory, if we all drove safely, there would be no accidents. In theory, if we all followed the speed limit, there would be no speeding tickets hence no need for traffic cops. The reality is so far from the theory that anybody would laugh if we suggested retiring our traffic cops and letting the citizenry police themselves. It would seem that the word freedom means the freedom to make mistakes or to deliberately do what's not right or to thumb your nose at the rules because nobody's going to tell you what to do.

Anti-abortionists actually increase the number of abortions
Christina Page, author of a 2006 book about the pro-life movement and its war on sex, wrote in the Huffington Post on February 24, 2009:

A new report released today by the Guttmacher Institute found that increasing access to contraception is the most effective approach to reducing unwanted pregnancy rates and the need for abortion. That report specifically concluded that making contraception available to low income women reduces the number of abortions by nearly 40%. When birth control isn't available unintended pregnancy increases by 2 million and the number of abortions spikes by more than 800,000 each year. Researchers noted that providing contraception saves taxpayers 4 times as much as not providing it.

Time: Healthland - Aug 31/2011
Gov. Rick Perry's Weird Science: Teen Pregnancy Aside, "Abstinence Works" By Meredith Melnick
Texas has the highest teen birth rate and the fourth highest teen pregnancy rate in the U.S., according to the Guttmacher Institute. So when Gov. Perry turned down $4.4 million in federal funding for pregnancy prevention programs and decided to continue with state-funded abstinence-only education in October 2010, a reporter from the Texas Tribune asked him why. Specifically, why, in the face of rising teen pregnancy rates, would the governor stick with a method that didn't seem to be working?

"Abstinence works," Perry replied to a roomful of laughter. The reporter pressed on, asking for data to back up the assertion that abstinence education leads to lower teen pregnancy rates. Flustered, Perry said that he knew abstinence worked from his "own personal life."

Uploaded by thecentristword on Aug 15, 2011
Rick Perry Struggles to answer Question on Abstinence
Rick Perry Struggles to answer Question on Abstinence - what seems to be a rather simple question turns into a bit of a confusing mess. Give this guy the nuclear button? I wouldn't suggest it.



Final Word
I think that Rick Perry is absolutely right: abstinence does work. And to support Mr. Perry in his promotion of abstinence, I would propose that all voters plan to abstain from voting for him.

I sit here literally stunned by the level of stupidity, incompetence and outright blindness to reality that comes from the faith-based movements. Rita Mae Brown said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Abstinence in theory seems logical. However a truly great visionary will see that while theory is a start, it is only a start and the implementation of a theory leads one to discover the flaws in the original theory.

Theory: If we all abstain from sex, nobody gets pregnant. Reality: People are not going to stop having sex. Theory: We all drive safely, there will be no accidents. Reality: Do I really have to fill this one in?

Sarah Palin is intellectually challenged. Michele Bachmann is cerebrally deficient. And Rick Perry? Hey, nice suit! Mr. Perry blindly persists in a course of action dictated by his whimsical interpretation of the Bible and his own limited experience in life. I am reminded of a blogger at Open Salon called Cranky Cuss who has written in his bio:

My motto: The conventional wisdom has too much convention, not enough wisdom.

Corollary: Even Einstein was wrong sometimes, and you're not Einstein.

Yes, Einstein. That is a reminder about this election season of just how little Einstein we'll get and how much Forrest Gump. Then again, Forrest demonstrated a very down to earth practical approach to life and its problems. When I look at Rick Perry, I begin to think Forrest was a genius.


References

Wikipedia: Abstinence
Abstinence is a voluntary restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, or abstention from alcohol or food. The practice can arise from religious prohibitions or practical considerations. Abstinence may also refer to drugs. For example you can abstain from smoking. Abstinence has diverse forms. Commonly it refers to a temporary or partial abstinence from food, as in fasting. In the twelve-step program of Overeaters Anonymous abstinence is the term for refraining from compulsive eating, akin in meaning to sobriety for alcoholics. Because the regimen is intended to be a conscious act, freely chosen to enhance life, abstinence is sometimes distinguished from the psychological mechanism of repression. The latter is an unconscious state, having unhealthy consequences. Freud termed the channeling of sexual energies into other more culturally or socially acceptable activities, "sublimation".

Wikipedia: Sexual abstinence
Sexual abstinence is the practice of refraining from some or all aspects of sexual activity for medical, psychological, legal, social or religious reasons.

Huffington Post - Feb 24/2009
"Pro-Life" Movement Admits Pro-Abortion Stance by Christina Page
Sometimes referred to as "The Pro-life Paradox," researchers and women's health advocates in recent years have drawn attention to the disparities between the mission statements of so-called "anti-abortion" groups and the effects of their policies. For example, the countries considered the most "pro-choice," where contraception is widely available and abortion is legal, and often free of charge, are those that also have the lowest abortion rates in the world. The countries with the highest rates of abortion are those that have adopted the policies of the so-called "anti-abortion" movement and have banned abortion and opposed efforts to make contraception more widely available.

Guttmacher Institute - Feb 24/2009
1.94 million unintended pregnancies and 810,000 abortions prevented each year
By providing millions of young and low-income women access to voluntary contraceptive services, the national family planning program prevents 1.94 million unintended pregnancies, including almost 400,000 teen pregnancies, each year. These pregnancies would result in 860,000 unintended births, 810,000 abortions and 270,000 miscarriages, according to a new Guttmacher Institute report.

Amazon
How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics and the War on Sex
by Christina Page
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Basic Books (December 26, 2006)
The abortion issue is a cover for a fundamentalist "anti-contraception" and "anti-sex movement," argues this vigorous broadside. In a well-researched and pointed critique of prolife excesses, NARAL official Page (The Smart Girl's Guide to College) details the multifaceted opposition the Christian right has mounted to a broad range of reproductive rights. Prolife groups, she notes, have fraudulently conflated contraceptives with devices or substances that cause abortion, championed pharmacists who refuse to sell contraceptives, and organized to block over-the-counter sale of "Plan B" emergency contraceptive pills. Attacking both feminism and premarital sex, she contends, they vilify working moms and push ineffective abstinence-only sex-ed curricula, and have even opposed a vaccine against the HPV virus, a major cause of cervical cancer, claiming it would promote promiscuity. The irony, she argues, is that prolifers' effort to restrict access to contraception actually increases the number of abortions. Against what she believes is the fundamentalists' dour procreationist ideology and animus toward sexual pleasure itself, Page celebrates the blessings conferred by contraceptives in liberating women, and their families, in our modern "pro-choice world," claiming that "regular sex brings people as much happiness as a $50,000-a-year raise." If sometimes a tad facile, her defense of the sexual revolution in upbeat—even patriotic—terms makes this a spirited, thought-provoking addition to the culture wars. (review by Publishers Weekly - Dec 19/2005)

Wikipedia: Seat belt legislation
Studies of accident outcomes suggest that fatality rates among car occupants are reduced by between 30 and 50 per cent if seat belts are worn. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that death risks for a driver wearing a lap-shoulder seat belt are reducing by 48 per cent. The same study indicated that in 2007, an estimated 15 147 lives were saved by seat belts in the United States and that, if seat belt use were increased to 100 per cent an additional 5024 lives would have been saved. An earlier statistical analysis by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claimed that seat belts save over 10,000 lives every year in the US.

Freakonomics - April 2/2010
Life (and Death) in the Fast Lane by Eric A. Morris
According to a recent paper by Lee S. Friedman, Donald Hedeker, and Elihu D. Richter, the lifting of the federal 55 mph speed limit in 1995 was responsible for 12,545 deaths between 1995 and 2005. That’s about 45 percent more American fatalities than we have suffered in 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan put together.

2012-02-19

Site Map - William Quincy Belle

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Picture courtesy of Jodi Lundmark, TBNewsWatch

Reprinted from March 13, 2011

The port city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, population 110,000, sitting at the top of the Great Lakes system on Lake Superior, would not be, at first glance, a hotbed of civil disobedience. However, on Thursday, March 10, 2011, Alexandria Szeglet, a 15 year old Grade 10 student at St. Patrick High School, found herself embroiled in a controversy over a strip of green tape with the word "choice" written on it. The Thunder Bay Source, a local weekly newspaper in the city tells the story.

Several years ago, another student, Alexandra Calnan, started a pro-life student group at this Catholic high school. This 19 year old is now a student at Lakehead University having graduated from high school in 2009. Every year, this group organises an event, a "Day of Silent Solidarity" at the high school during which students wear a red piece of tape with the word "life" written on it and do not talk for a full day to display their belief in the injustice of abortion. This event raises money to support the group's activities which include attending right-to-life events and the group’s Project Mommy, which furnishes care packages to young mothers at the school.

Szeglet, apparently wanting to state her disagreement with the anti-abortionists, showed up at school with about 25 pieces of green tape with the word "choice" written on it which she distributed to fellow students. She was subsequently told to take off the tape or go to the school office. The office said that what she was doing was not an approved scheduled event and as such, she had to remove the tape. She refused and was sent home.

At this point, the story becomes somewhat unclear but it seems other students followed this act of defiance. A representative of the school board has said 15 students were sent home and two or three were given two-day suspensions but the local weekly newspaper, the Thunder Bay Source, has written that calls to its newsroom were claiming that as many as 35 were given two-day suspensions and another hundred were sent home.

The Source quoted John De Faveri, Director of Education of the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, as saying that "the students who were sent home for the day were not removed from school for wearing the sticker, but for not taking it off." Supposedly, students who were issued two-day suspensions after they refused to remove the stickers and swore at school staff. "On the issue, pro-life is part of the Catholic stand. The pro-choice students were not appropriate in the context of a Catholic school."

The Source went on to report de Faveri as explaining that the school has a process for the approval of any student initiatives, including the alteration of the school uniform or an event. The pro-life group had apparently gone through this process and did receive approval for both their Day for Silent Solidarity and the wearing of the red tape with the word "life" written on it, but de Faveri could not say whether the green-tape initiative would have also been approved. He did underline, however, that while opposing views are accepted, there is a process. The school does have a code of conduct and students must comply with authority.

Media Coverage
Thunder Bay's weekly newspaper The Thunder Bay Source published two articles on this incident and The National Post picked it up. However, Thunder Bay's daily newspaper The Chronicle Journal was silent on this issue.

The Thunder Bay Source - Mar 10/2011
Students sent home By Jodi Lundmark

The Thunder Bay Source - Mar 11/2011
Pro-life Support By Jodi Lundmark

Reactions
The two articles published online at TBNewsWatch.com "Students sent home" and "Pro-life Support" are followed by dozens and dozens of comments covering numerous issues raised by this incident:

• Does the school have the right to enforce a dress code?
• Is a piece of tape in violation of the dress code?
• Is this really about the pro-life vs. pro-choice debate?
• Should Catholic Separate Schools continue to be funded?
• Should the issue of abortion have ever been allowed in the school in the first place?
• Freedom of speech vs. freedom of the Catholic school to dictate what it feels is right.

The following is a comment from Alexandria Szeglet's aunt (see comments in the article: "Students sent home")
Kerri says:
Alexandria is my niece and we are very proud of her ability to speak her own mind. This demonstration was done peacefully and without malice unlike some of the pro life demonstrations that have happened in the past. I am born and raised a Catholic woman, am well educated. Having attended a Catholic school myself, I am appalled at the ridiculousness of this situation and the stand that the school and school board have taken on this subject when Alex simply held true to her beliefs. Isn't that what we teach our children? To have independence, a mind of their own and to be secure in all the decisions they make?
Ask yourself this question: Would you want to be the person to explain who your child's dad was if you were a victim of rape or incest? OR What if your life was in mortal danger? PRO CHOICE means just that...a woman's choice. It's not a form of birth control nor is it a decision any woman would want to make. I know in my heart and in my wonderful niece's heart that she is intelligent enough to know what is right or wrong for her own self. We are proud of her if every sense and we will continue to support her throughout her life. It's a shame that the world is still stuck in the dark ages and that a woman still does not have the right to choose...This is a touchy subject that someone thought was ok for high schoolers to demonstrate...with the advent of Facebook and social media, what did they think would happen when people caught wind of today's events?

Another comment (my emphasis in bold)
kt says:
I'd just like to point out that Catholics are also against sex before marriage, yet St. Patricks has rooms for young mothers in the basement, which is practically saying that their okay with these young mothers going against the Catholic beliefs, and they support them.
but yet, these students cant even have a choice about abortion?
i find it funny that one of the reasons some students were sent home is because the green tape isnt part of uniform, yet the students can wear colourful scarves, and such little things like that, as long as the crest is showing. some students had "choice" written on their hands, or arms, which isnt bothering the uniform at all, yet they were still sent home, or told to wash it off. so clearly, they were sent home because of their opinion.

Reactions elsewhere:

Facebook: Catholics for Choice
Under an entry about this incident, a Kevin Saldanha writes, "Catholic schools in Ontario are PUBLIC and funded by tax dollars. However, their curriculum has to be approved by the area Bishops and that is a source of major conflict."

blog: Sandwalk
by Larry Moran, Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto
Ontario has two schools systems—both publicly funded. The "public schools" are open to all comers but the "Roman Catholic" ("Separate") school system isn't. I support the One School System Network.

blog: The Friendly Atheist
by Hemant Mehta
This was a respectful way to show dissent and the school put a stop to it because they didn’t ask for permission beforehand. What exactly are they teaching the kids? To keep quiet when they have a differing opinion? Alexandria wasn’t displaying any sort of hatred against the pro-life students. She wasn’t bullying them. She wasn’t saying they were evil or sinners or wicked. She wasn’t putting others down. She deserves to be commended. She’s the type of student any other school would be lucky to have.

Reddit: from a graduate of St. Patrick's high school
With regards to this specific event there is no argument that the school violated any rules, as they did not. The official reason for sending the students home was that they had not requested permission to wear the tape prior to the event, and as such the tape constituted a uniform violation. Those wearing red tape were not reprimanded because it had been requested prior to the actual day. However that shouldn’t stop people from expressing their opinions on this if they think it is unjust.

Reaction: Finding My Feminism
The blogger Not Guilty describes herself as: I'm a liberal feminist atheist with my law degree. I am pro-choice, pro-socialized medicine, and I am intolerant of intolerance. In her article "Crushing Free Speech but not Spirit" (Mar 11/2011-Unfortunately now taken down), she takes exception to the actions of the school. Unlike the above reactions which remained merely in print, this blogger pro-actively wrote to the "Director of the offending school board", John De Faveri (jdefaver@tbcdsb.on.ca) and to the Ontario Minister of Education, Leona Dombrowsky (ldombrowsky.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org). This blogger published her letters in full in her blog posting. She ends with:

Please write your own letters to both the School Board and the Ministry. If you believe that the Catholic School Boards should be de-funded, say so. We must press these issues.

I would also like to say how proud I am of the student who started this. She will grow into the most amazing woman if at 16 she was already to accept suspension for her support of women's rights. Rock on sister!

Final Word
Pro-life or pro-choice? The issue is very much a religious one more than political one and does this sort of thing have a place in a school at all? I'm sure we will always wonder if the school board would have approved of a green-tape pro-choice initiative; after all it is a Catholic school board. Of course, should the board have allowed the pro-life group in the first place?

My opinion?

History explains it, but modern times call for something else. We need to abolish the Catholic Separate Schools and work with a single public education system. Any religious group has the right to do what they want privately, but as a multi-cultural country, we should be providing for everyone in an all-inclusive manner. Separate schools are a thing of the past. They really never should have been allowed in the first place and we certainly can't afford such a luxury now.

Pro-life? Do what you want personally for yourself, but don't jam your beliefs down everybody else's throats. Religious fundamentalists pursue an unrealistic approach to abortion which has always failed and will always fail. Ah, I can hear you saying, "Pro-abortion". Not in the least. While I vote for abortion, I pursue every possible avenue to ensure that nobody faces the life-altering situation of an unwanted pregnancy. What does that mean? Sex education, handing out condoms, making birth control available, and of course, abstinence. But unlike the pro-lifers who blindly and slavishly follow only abstinence, my aim is to stop unwanted pregnancies in any way possible. My goal is not just to permit abortions, my goal is to ensure that nobody arrives at such a critical decision. An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. See my blog Abortion: My final word on unwanted pregnancy. I repeat: if nobody had an "unwanted pregnancy", there would be no abortions. At all. Never. We would all achieve the same goal.

The St. Patrick High School invited this on themselves. I don't believe anybody should have been allowed to bring into the school such an obvious hot-button topic. This was asking for trouble and they got it. But since they did, I return to the statements of John De Faveri, Director of Education of the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board:

"the students who were sent home for the day were not removed from school for wearing the sticker, but for not taking it off."

I'm sorry, that's splitting hairs.

"On the issue, pro-life is part of the Catholic stand. The pro-choice students were not appropriate in the context of a Catholic school."

The answer to the question as to whether the green-tape initiative would have ever been pre-approved is an emphatic "no".


References

my blog: The Halton Catholic School Board: a "gay" anachronism

Wikipedia: The Thunder Bay Source
Dougall Media publishes a free weekly community newspaper, Thunder Bay's Source, which is delivered to 44,500 households in Thunder Bay each Friday. The paper covers local news, including city council, education, health care and the local political scene, as well as weekly entertainment and sports features. It also hosts a selection of local columnists, including outdoor writer Mick Bohonis and former CBC Radio personality Fred Jones.

It was formerly known as Thunder Bay Post, a name that was discontinued in October 2003. Prior to that it was known as Lakehead Living.

The paper's editorial staff also contributes to the news website TbNewsWatch.com, which also has material contributed from the company's radio and television newsrooms.

Wikipedia: St. Partick's High School (Thunder Bay)
St. Patrick High School is a Catholic high school located in the south end of Thunder Bay, Ontario. It is part of the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, and its amenities include a chapel, custom-built music rooms, newly renovated auditorium (as of 2010), two gyms, a fully functional cafeteria, and wheelchair accessibility. The schools offers courses in French immersion. Unlike schools in the public system, students at St. Patrick are required to wear uniforms.

Wikipedia: Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board
The Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board oversees all Catholic schools in the Thunder Bay CMA and the townships of Gorham and Ware in Ontario, Canada. It administers education at 13 elementary schools, 2 senior elementary, and 2 secondary schools.

The Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board
Director's Office: Senior Administration

The Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board
Catholic Education Myths & Realities
[Two Adobe PDF documents]
Challenges to Catholic Education: A Letter to Parents/Guardian - May 29, 2007 (Adobe PDF)
Recently, some groups in the province have been advocating amalgamating school boards as a way of saving money. Their assumption that amalgamations lower costs is incorrect.
Catholic Education: Myths & Realities - April 2007 (Adobe PDF)
Over the 160-year history of Catholic education in Ontario there have been groups and individuals who have called for the elimination of publicly funded Catholic schools. These attacks on our system have taken many forms, including books, articles, pamphlets, media advertisements, Letters to the editor and recently an email petition campaign. Whatever the motivation of these groups and individuals, their arguments and the rationale for their position are similar and are often filled with myths and inaccuracies.

Wikipedia: Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay (2006 census population 109,140), formerly the twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur, is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario, and the second most populous in Northern Ontario after Greater Sudbury. The census metropolitan area of Thunder Bay has a population of 122,907, and consists of the city of Thunder Bay, the municipalities of Oliver Paipoonge and Neebing, the townships of Shuniah, Conmee, O'Connor and Gillies and the Fort William First Nation.

2012-02-18

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