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Showing posts from August, 2008

A moderate thinker

I'm very pro-life, so it may come as a surprise to many people that I am not actually very conservative. I am sure that many liberals would read some of my pro-life stuff and roll their eyes at it. And I suppose some of the conservatives out there would read some of my other stuff and be shocked because I seemed like such a good conservative. I do agree with many of the things that the Harper government has done. I totally agree with them in cuting funding to things like the Vancouver safe-injection project. We're not going to get rid of drugs by giving them a place to safely inject themselves. That money would be better put to use in detox programs. Perhaps in LONG-TERM detox programs. Perhaps the failure of some of these programs is that people don't actually STAY long enough. I was all for the private member's bill making it a separate offense to kill a wanted unborn child. I think the government has "no balls" for backing down on that one. However,

Gollum

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From the desert Isle of Juana la Cubana: He doesn't pay attention. His eyes go blank when I talk to him of things that he finds boring. He wants to do things his way. I am glad I do not live with him or I think I would go nuts. However as he passes by and drops in from time to time, I must still put up with chairs being placed just so, convenient for him, but in my way, or other such things. He does not want to listen to my arguments for something different, so I put up with him until he leaves again. Then Gollum will suddenly appear, with some project he has been working on and asks my opinion. I am not sure why he wants it, as most times he is not interested in what I think. Perhaps he is just excited about what he is doing, and in spite of him he needs to share that excitement with another. Perhaps my opinion still does not count, and this is just one way to get some kind of approval or compliment. Perhaps it makes him feel generous to let me voice an opinion on some s

Obamacide

By J. Matt Barber During a partial-birth abortion, the abortionist pulls a fully developed, fully "viable" child - often kicking and thrashing -- feet first from her mother's womb, leaving only the top of her head in the birth canal. He then stabs her through the skull with scissors or some other sharp object, piercing her brain until her kicking and moving about suddenly and violently jerk to a halt. Her brains are then sucked out -- collapsing her skull -- and her now limp and lifeless body is tossed aside like so much garbage. Again, medical science has determined that this horrific practice, which is nothing short of infanticide, is never necessary. But Barack Hussein Obama -- the man who would be President -- doesn't see it that way. He called the partial-birth abortion ban, "a concerted effort to roll back the hard-won rights of American women." Although Obama's love affair with partial-birth abortion has served to chip away at his finely polished

Juana la Cubana's Rant

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From Juana la Cubana Thoughts from a desert isle... I used to think it was a given that if you cared for a person, you would go out of your way to make that person feel special in little ways. I thought everyone thought like this. With the exception of course of crappy, criminal-type people. I was wrong. It just doesn't occur to some people to do that sort of thing. Either they were not brought up in families that made a big deal about each other, or else they are actually oblivious to the fact that people around them have gone out of their way to do something to please them and do not think to do the same in return. Oh they love you, they don't want to see you hurt or poor or sick or in dire straits. They'll help you out if you ask for it. But if you're far away and lonely, they won't think to send photos or keep you up to date as if you were close. They don't care if you do anything for their birthday or not, and expect you not to care either. Birthday and C

Doctors must always have right to follow conscience

Susan Martinuk Calgary Herald Friday, August 22, 2008 (Just doing the copy - paste kind of blogging again, but these people know better than me what they are talking about...) Some 2,500 years ago, doctors were both healers and killers. Abortion and euthanasia were commonplace, and the type of medical service rendered depended on who was paying the bill or how the 'payee' asked the 'doctor' to take care of the patient. That ended in 400 BC, when a Greek physician named Hippocrates decided that patients deserved better and wrote an oath to affirm the sanctity of life and the doctor's duty to protect it. Doctors who took the Hippocratic oath could then offer patients an element of trust and care that was previously non-existent and, for obvious reasons, Hippocratic physicians became the physicians of choice. Well-known anthropologist Margaret Mead commented on this marked shift in the physician's role by saying, "For the first time in our tradition there was

Forcing our doctors' hands

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=730473&p=2 Lorne Gunter, National Post Published: Monday, August 18, 2008 One of the best-known aid organizations in the world is Medecins Sans Frontieres -- Doctors Without Borders. It may soon be joined by a similar group operating within Canada's largest province -- Medecins Sans Conscience -- Doctors Without Consciences. If the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) gets its way, Ontario's doctors will soon be stripped of their right to follow their moral convictions or religious beliefs when treating patients. In other words, doctors will risk losing their licenses if they run afoul of Ontario's human rights police. If, out of moral conviction, they refuse to perform abortions, refer patients for abortions or prescribe morning-after and birth control pills, or if they refuse to help same-sex couples conceive children, their own governing body will take away their right to practice medicine. Should

Today is my blogoversary

Yep... I've been doing this for, hmmm... 4 years now. I don't always have something interesting to say. I don't always have something profound to say either. Sometimes I even just copy and paste other people's articles. But doing this has been more than just good for getting things out of my system, it's been good for going back and remembering things, or even going back and pulling things out again that I want to use in my book. It's been a real help, and maybe the reason I'm actually going to eventually finish this book I started. Since I have a headache and I don't have any profound thoughts on having a blogoversary nor how this is going to shake the foundations of your personal universe, I am going to end this here. Happy blogoversary to me.

I Need a Change

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Every year since we have been here, with the exception of one, we have bought passes for the Hot Air Balloon Festival here in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu. This year was the 25th anniversary edition. Each year is a bit different, and this year had some new attractions too, but in spite of that, Jean-Alexandre went reluctantly and I have to admit that I was not as thrilled as other years to be going either. I am starting to ache for a change of scenery. Marc took the kids on Monday (August 11) but didn't have the camera. We all went on Tuesday, along with a friend of Maryssa's. The balloons went up within a limited timespot, a storm was heading in from Montreal. The girls got their faces painted, Nicolas did too, but his came off in the rain. August 13, we went back again, with a friend of Gabriel's this time, and this time we came prepared for rain. No balloons went up this day, because of turbulent systems, so we visited the luminarium instead, a structure on site that lets li

Pro-choice's guinea pigs

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=415216 Barbara Kay, National Post Published: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 The birth of my fourth granddaughter two weeks ago -- healthy, a good weight -- was the occasion for joy and relief in equal measure. My daughter's pregnancy had first been fraught with ominous signs of imminent miscarriage. Then the worry was a probable extremely pre-term birth (at 24 weeks' gestation, her high-risk specialist ominously murmured, "Let's try to get you to 28 weeks … "). Even on bed rest she was offered only 5% odds of going 37 weeks (she made it to 39!). This was our family's first experience with an abnormal pregnancy. In the course of the unwanted adventure I acquired an education in the risks associated with prematurity, today a feature of one in eight births. The most harrowing risk of an extremely pre-term birth (XPB) -- under 28 weeks gestation -- is cerebral palsy. The risk is about 38 times higher in XPB

L'avortement sans risques mentaux?

Selon cet article dans Lapresse d'aujourd'hui, l'avortement ne cause pas de troubles mentaux. Les femmes qui se font avorter ne risquent pas plus de développer des troubles mentaux que la population en général, affirme l’American Psychological Association (APA). Alors,que dire de toutes les femmes qui professent ressentir la coupabilité toute leur vie face à un avortement? Quand on fait une fausse-couche, on ne ressent aucune coupabilité. On est triste, c'est sur, mais ce n'est pas de notre faute. Selon l’APA, les symptômes comme la tristesse, la dépression et l’anxiété sont parfois signalés après un avortement. Toutefois, aucune recherche ne prouve que l’avortement crée automatiquement ces troubles ou que les femmes qui se font avorter sont plus à risque de vivre ces effets psychologiques. « Les femmes qui vivent un avortement ne risquent pas plus d’avoir de troubles psychologiques que les femmes qui font une fausse couche durant leur premier trimestre », dit

Next time I need shoes...

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... I'm going to get them here: http://canada.zappos.com/ These are the ones I want for Christmas: They're only $143.00 USD, but I'm worth that right? They'd look great with my jeans... Yes, one must dream in life... if they ever go on sale, please let me know...

Does too much sun really cause Melanoma?

Well here's an interesting article... I think I may just go out and get myself some more sun... maybe stick more to the shade at midday though... http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/08/05/does-too-much-sun-really-cause-melanoma.aspx?source=nl

Got class?

I was styling the hair of an older client today, for a wedding. She'd been to a different wedding two weeks ago. She told me she had been worried that she wasn't dressed up enough, but apparently, compared to others, she ended up being over-dressed. This first wedding ended up being a civil wedding, all done at the bride's home, where the mother of the bride, who had paid to get all the papers/permission, was the one who conducted the wedding herself. So no need for a justice of the peace or judge or minister. Needless to say, my client found that a little strange. That's the first I've heard of anyone doing something like that myself. Some people came in flip-flops and casual shorts, no more than what one would wear to the beach. The groom himself, was in black jeans. A very casual affair. Basically, this is what you're telling us you think about marriage: "It's just a piece of paper." I've heard it said before too, but you don't

Culture shock - Catholics and Protestants

Being around non-catholics again brings me to realize something. It's not so much what we believe that is different, (although there is that too) but how we believe that is different. It's a culture shock! You know, culture shock is worse and more badly understood when it happens between two similar cultures. When you go to China, you expect them to be different. You expect them to do different things, react in a different way. When you go to the next province or state, or hey sometimes even just go from the south of the same province to the north, you don't expect so much of a change. Had I been visibly native, my friends in Québec may have realized that some things I did were just a part of native culture. I'm not native, but I grew up with them, and I grew up in a Northen culture. Not understanding this, noone thought to set me right on cultural dos and don'ts in Québec, because I "should have known better." Protestants (especially the Pentecostal/Ba