It is hard to too excited about the Speech from the Throne; it is theatre, the government's best face, and it seldom resembles the legislative and budgetary priorities the government eventually puts forward. But they do mean something. It is therefore notable, as David Quist of the Institute ofMarriage and Family Canada points out, that the speech referenced family and families 20 times; according [...]
Just as in Canada, there is a push by many on the political Left to implement some sort of universal preschool program. A Heritage Foundation backgrounder points out why it is unnecessary: The ultimate goal of the myriad early education bills is to guarantee access to publicly subsidized preschool for all families. Universal preschool provides taxpayer-subsidized preschool to all children free of charge [...]
Rachel’s Vineyard Ministries does wonderful post-abortion work and they are holding retreats across Canada this year: March 5 - March 7, 2010 -- Pointe-aux-Outardes, Quebec March 19 - March 21, 2010 -- Edmonton, Alberta April 16 - April 18, 2010 -- Ottawa, Ontario April 30 - May 2, 2010 -- Kelowna, British Columbia May 28 - May 30, 2010 -- Vancouver, British Columbia [...]
Ipsos Reid finds that the Conservatives lead the Liberals 37%-29% and that Canadians think Stephen Harper would make a better prime minister than Michael Ignatieff 46%-21%. After two full months of almost no political coverage other than prorogation stories, how can that be? Some pundits might offer the Olympic afterglow effect benefiting the government, but here is an alternative explanation: Ignatieff's support of abortion [...]
Our March cover story is now online: "The politics of maternal health and child mortality." It begins: The numbers are staggering. A half-million women die during pregnancy every year. Nine million children in the developing world will die before their fifth birthday. That’s one pregnant mother and 18 children every minute of every day of the year will die prematurely, unnecessarily. Their [...]
Is it racist to point out that abortion hurts blacks disproportionately? I find it amusing that the Washington Independent even considers it necessary to defend Trent Franks (R, Az) against charges of racism for noting the eugenic effect of abortion on American blacks. Mike Starks interviews Franks says, “I don’t think he sees the racism (or paternalism) in what he’s saying.” That's probably because [...]
Jill Stanek has provided extensive coverage of one woman's live tweeting her RU-486 abortion. When I first heard of this stunt, I had the same thought that Stanek came to after writing five posts about it: "By live tweeting her abortion, Angie has performed a different kind of public service than she intended. No one can read her exhaustive and exhausting dismal account [...]
Yesterday Statistics Canada released a report on "deaths" (life expectancy), the bottom line of which is: Life expectancy at birth in Canada reached 80.7 years for the three-year period between 2005 and 2007, up from the average of 80.5 between 2004 and 2006, and 78.4 a decade earlier between 1995 and 1997. Increased life expectancy is good for individuals, but it is not so clear cut for society in general in countries with large, redistributionist welfare programs (health and pensions). [...]
Two columns and one article from the February issue are now online. "Professor displays puerile, atheistic, anti-life mentality," by Rory Leishman. "Puppy mills bad, abortion mills okay," by Michael Coren. "Pro-life mission work in Cyprus," by Allison Kach. The March issue went to press today, so regular blogging will return tomorrow.
The comedian Sarah Silverman is crass and racist. She isn't ever funny which should be a career-limiting attribute for a comedian. I won't ever understand why our esteemed editor finds her so amusing. I hope he reconsiders after reading this from last weekend's USA Weekend Q&A with Silverman: Do you want kids? I'm not stressed about not having kids. I'll want to adopt [...]
Michael Cook has an excellent, must-read article on euthanasia at MercatorNet. Some key paragraphs: But amongst the numerous Dutch victims of spongy-brained euthanasia syndrome some are more affected than others. Recently a distinguished group called “Out of Free Will” has complained that there are too many restrictions on euthanasia in the Netherlands. Even in the mercy-killing heartland, people are required to have some [...]
LifeSiteNews.com has an incredible report on how "The flow of medical supplies waiting to be distributed to tens of thousands of earthquake victims in Haiti was delayed for weeks by a massive supply of condoms dominating the space of the main storage facility there." Key stat: "The condoms were estimated to take up about 70% of the space in the 17,000 sq. ft. [...]
Ethan Boyles of Seattle is upset with a pro-life student display at the University of Washington and he writes about it for the Socialist Worker. In it, he states: Reproductive freedom is a foundation of women's liberation. Women can never have full equality if they cannot control their own bodies, and we cannot have a fundamentally democratic society if half the population [...]
LifeSiteNews.com has an exclusive interview with Rep. Ron Paul (R, Tx) in which the former candidate for the GOP presidential nomination and former Libertarian presidential candidate says it is no use waiting for the right configuration on the Surpeme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and proposes a different solution, instead: having Congress take the abortion issue away from the central government and hand it [...]
I didn't comment on the decision by Senator Evan Bayh to not seek a third term in Indiana yesterday because I have been trying to determine what it will mean. On his personal blog (Sobering Thoughts), Interim editor Paul Tuns says that making predictions eight months out in politics is a fools game, but it is hard to not predict a Republican [...]