Moving

Movimg to a new site you can find me hereAnd here is the rest of it.

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Progressive?

Progressive;

Meaning #2: a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties

It would be wonderful to think that progressive women and progressive men are working towards a similar goal in which equality for all is one of the founding principals.

Unfortunately just as in other times of "progression" many men have change in mind just not change that requires anything from them.

In the French Revolution, women's republican clubs demanded that liberty, equality, and fraternity be applied regardless of sex, but this movement was extinguished for the time by the Code Napoléon.

With regards to family, the Code established the supremacy of the husband with respects to the wife and children; this was the general legal situation in Europe at the time. It, however, allowed divorce on relatively liberal basis compared to other European countries, including divorce by mutual consent.

In our own progressive communities there are examples of men who just don't get it.

They don't get how sexist comments affect us all, they still have beliefs of female promiscuity (when was the last time that term was used on a man) they show demeaning pictures of women as if they are being clever, in short they display an ignorance unworthy of someone who would take on the mantle of progressive.

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"the progressive poetry blogburst"

Credit to skdadl of pogge for coming up with this idea

the pome only has to be four lines long (minimum), but it must mention the Court Challenges program at some point.

Here is my attempt;

SWC, CCP, like so many birds the acronyms fly by
The hunters sit intent on death
Progress, they say, has drawn it's last breath
I need you again progress sighs
Mourn their blindness, then organize

Tag to progressive bloggers reading this!

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Dogs, frat boys and the sad state of Parliament

Much has been said about Belinda Stronach, not a lot of it nice. Some have said that insults against her should not be taken as insults against women or as a reflection of how the conservative party views women.

I beg to differ.

Here are some quotes from tories and reformers, now the reformatories;

"Pass the tequila, Sheila, lay down and love me again."
– John Crosbie
"Slut." William Kempling to Copps
Stronach"whored herself out for power." Tony Abbott
"She sort of defined herself as something of a dipstick, an attractive one, but still a dipstick." Runciman

There are many more but I wouldn't want to belabour the point.

Much has been said about Belinda's wealth and the how it helped her rise to power. Can someone point me in the direction of the person in parliament who isn't at least somewhat wealthy and/or well connected?

Let's not forget she supports abortion rights, gun control, same-sex marriage and (real) women has been quoted as saying "If Ms. Stronach is elected as leader of the Conservative Party, social conservatives will no longer have a voice in Canada."

Further evidence of tory support for women;

Slashing funding to the SWC, even taking out the word equality.

The PM taking over during the environment announcement. When asked about policy Ambrose couldn't even form her own opinion but kept referring to Harper's words.

Support for Mackay's insulting and unparliamentary behaviour.

This is a party for bigots, misogynists, flat earthers and Bush wannabes.

They do not deserve either the votes of nor the respect of the citizens of this country. Most particulary Canadian women.

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Court Challenges Program

Tories and their supporters must be so proud

Reg Warkentin is challenging the military pension act's "gold diggers clause," but his legal battle is in jeopardy after the federal government cut a program that funds human rights court challenges.

Reg Warkentin married Hilde when he was 62. Because he was older than 60, she will not get his military pension when he dies.

"Virtually we've been cut off at the knees," he said. "Unless somebody comes up with more money, this thing will never get to the Supreme Court."

The clause in Section 31 of the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act says a woman who marries a veteran who is 60 or older cannot receive her husband's military pension if he dies.

Good thing that was nipped in the bud!

Other scary people helped by the CCP include such dastardly sorts as Rural Dignity of Canada

The organization worked in coalition with fishery, environment, church and labour groups across the country to lobby on behalf of the protection of essential small-community infrastructures.

Thanks goodness we have the tories and their blogging minions to save us from such evil.

To support the reinstatement of the program write to Harper and your MP

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Hmm where have I seen this before?

The Bush administration guts another set of laws and policies that protect workplace equity for women.
And this example of the Bush administration's efforts to weaken women's rights is not the only case. For example, the Administration has repeatedly sought to weaken the 86-year-old Women's Bureau, the only federal agency whose work is solely devoted to the concerns of women in the workplace. Early on in the Bush administration, the Department of Labor erased all information about eradicating the wage gap from the Women's Bureau website. Recently, it announced a plan to outsource half of the career positions at the Women's Bureau national office, which would cripple the Bureau's ability to advance working women's concerns. And in 2001, the Department of Labor tried but failed to close the 10 regional offices of the Women's Bureau.

The administration has also championed efforts to restrict the availability of overtime pay for workers, both by narrowing the categories of employees eligible for overtime, and by enabling employers to coerce their workers to take comp time rather overtime. This is especially harmful for women, because many women rely on overtime pay to supplement their inadequate wages.

Moreover, in an alarming example of selecting the fox to guard the henhouse, President Bush recently recess-appointed Paul DeCamp, an attorney who has spent his career trying to curtail legal remedies for women, to head the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. Among other things, DeCamp represented Wal-Mart in trying to prevent a class of 1.5 million women -- the largest employment class action ever certified -- from suing the company for sex discrimination in pay and promotions.
AlterNet

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United Health Care

the same company that has more than one of these types of charges against it

The United Healthcare Insurance Company, a unit of UnitedHealth Group, will pay $3.5 million to settle charges that it defrauded the federal Medicare program, the Justice Department said yesterday. United Healthcare ''knowingly mishandled'' phone inquiries from Medicare beneficiaries and health care providers, then made false reports to the federal government about how it handled the calls, the department said in a news release. The activities took place for five years ending in 2000, the government said. United Healthcare did not admit wrongdoing in reaching the settlement. UnitedHealth's press office did not return a phone call. A former United Healthcare employee began the case in 2001 by filing a whistleblower lawsuit, in which the Justice Department intervened.

NYT

has become involved in the NHS

Many observers said, however, that developments in the past 12 months meant that the writing was already on the wall for primary care trusts. At the start of the year, North Eastern Derbyshire Primary Care Trust invited United Health Europe to run two general practices. In May, Barking and Dagenham Primary Care Trust signed a £5m contract with Care UK, under which the private firm will provide GP services for more than 7000 patients in East London

link

and has routinely denied claims

is now news again

The chief executive of one of the nation's largest health insurance companies retired under pressure Sunday, the latest executive to fall in an options-based pay scandal that is unfolding at scores of companies nationwide.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. announced that William McGuire, 59, was leaving — along with a director who oversaw executive compensation and the firm's top lawyer.

The announcement came in the wake of a board-commissioned investigation that found that stock option grants were "likely backdated" to allow insiders to maximize financial gains.

President and Chief Operating Officer Stephen Helmsley was tapped to replace McGuire. He said little about the stock options controversy in a statement released Sunday.

"In light of the recently completed investigation, I have determined that it is in the best interests of the company that I assist Steve Helmsley in an orderly transition to succeed me as CEO," McGuire said.

link
Golly gee willikers beav I can hardly wait till they take hold in Canada.

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Defining Pro life

Pro life, as I have said before, is a term that needs to be reclaimed by those who feel that a woman is entitled to the basic human right of having control over her own body.

Anti abortionists are not pro life. They are pro shame, pro blame, pro control, pro legislating wombs as wards of the state, and they are pro caring about the unborn as opposed to the already born, but they are most certainly not pro life.

This excellent article describes one woman's journey from black and white to the multitudes of gray.

To engage in productive dialogue about abortion, we must account for justice and equity; we must strive to make our country one where laws, practices, programs, and attitudes nurture women and allow them the opportunity to bring babies into the world when they can support them, provide them excellent healthcare, send them to college without putting themselves in massive debt, and promise them truthfully there are living-wage jobs waiting for them.

Come to think of it, if this isn't a genuinely pro-life position, I don't know what is.

Reflections from a Former Anti-Abortion Activist

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Anti abortion/anti woman

The latest tact by the anti abortionists is to say that women cannot make their own decision re abortion.

The task force took as a statement of biological and psychological fact that a mother's connection to her unborn baby was more authentic than her own statement of desire not to be pregnant.

They trot out women who have regrets about their abortion, stats on women who have committed suicide, (perhaps the suicides had more to do with other things in their lives but lets not go there)and generally manipulate the tear ducts like a maudlin Disney film.

The danger I see here is twofold.

First though some women may regret their abortion, there are also many who regret their pregnancy.

So far those who support choice have refrained from dragging around women who have had severe post partum depression, who have stayed with an abusive husband because of welfare laws which make it impossible to leave and still care properly for their children, women who have been forced to carry to term a rapists baby, or 11 year olds who have been forced to carry their fathers baby to term, and parade them as some sort of freak show for all and sundry.

There are many choices in life we regret. I regret a few things but I'm not looking to define how others can live their lives based on those regrets.

Secondly if it is to be accepted that women cannot make their own decisions about this, what else are we unable to make decisions about?

Are we unable to decide who to vote for? Who to marry? Are we unable
to gain an education because our minds are too frail? Perhaps we are unable to determine what has been rape and what has been merely a sex act which as women our natures detest.

It seems to me that most of these issues are based on the fear of womens autonomy, the fear of their sexuality and the fear that church will lose control of people's lives as Wordsworth penned

"What are fears but voices airy?
Whispering harm where harm is not.
And deluding the unwary
Till the fatal bolt is shot!"

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Oh say, can you see?

Being able to see and therefore work helps people stay out of poverty.

CBC

About 153 million people worldwide have easily correctable vision problems that lead children to fail at school and leave adults unable to work, according to a new report released Wednesday.

A simple sight test and glasses or contact lenses could allow people to live productive working lives, said the authors of the report by the World Health Organization.

About 90 per cent of people with uncorrected refractive errors — near-sightedness, far-sightedness and astigmatism — live in low- and middle-income countries, the agency found.

"Individuals and families are frequently pushed into a cycle of deepening poverty because of their inability to see well," the WHO said in a statement released ahead of World Sight Day on Thursday.

I know an Ontario premier who needs to read this. As he didn't see fit to reverse the welfare cuts and will force more working poor to choose between poverty or not paying bills just in order to get eye exams let alone glasses.

We need to help those in the third world but can we really support a premier who thinks it is ok for Ontario citizens to face the same issues of poverty as those in third world countries?

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The good old days?

Life if R.E.A.L.(ly out of touch) women get their way;

The following is from a 1950's Home Economics textbook intended for high school girls, teaching how to prepare for married life.

1. Have dinner ready: Plan ahead even the night before, to have a delicious meal on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him, and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospects of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.
2. Prepare yourself: Take 15 minutes to rest so you will be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot or work-weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.
3. Clear away the clutter: make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives, gathering up school books, toys, paper, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too.
4. Prepare the children: Take a few minutes to wash the children hands and faces if they are small, comb their hair, and if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.
5. Minimize the noise: At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of washer, dryer, dishwasher, or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet. Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad to see him.
6. Some DON'TS: Don't greet him with problems or complaints. Don't complain if he is late for dinner. Count this as minor compared with what he might have gone through that day.
7. Make him comfortable: Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax and unwind.
8. Listen to him: You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first.
9. Make the evening his: Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment; instead try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his need to be home and relax.
10. The Goal: Try to make you home a place of peace and order where your husband can relax.

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Blogging.....Tool of the Devil

Ask yourself, “Do I have a tendency to want to have a voice?”

This has grown so out of control it is routine for a person to start a daily blog entry with a single word that details his or her mood. A blog entry will start: “Current mood: ____” The level of shallowness and emotional immaturity this represents is astonishing! In the grand scheme of things, why would the world at large care?

People naturally want to make a mark in this world; they want to make a difference, and many believe blogs will allow them to do this. However, most blogs, especially by teenagers, serve as nothing more than public diaries. (Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with a personal diary, as long as it is kept private.) Although certain professional weblogs can make a positive difference within some elements of society, teen blogging does not.

Stop and consider. The biggest mark you will ever make is to build God’s character and be born into the God Family. Blogging will not help you achieve this.

http://www.thercg.org/youth/articles/0403-bagy.html

Yes ask yourself "Do I want to have a voice?"

No NO!! Of course you don't. You want others to speak for you, tell you what to think and lead you to the path of glory.

Wow, I can see how not having a voice and doing what someone else tells them saves kids from predators.

Blogs can easily link to each other. This social network allows people to become “friends” fairly easily with another blogger. As soon as this happens, the person is viewed as a friend by anyone who visits the blog. Whether or not the person is a friend, the appearance of evil is glaring in such situations. Young people in the world are far different then those in the Church. The things they will say and do—even on someone else’s blog—will make one blush.

This “friends” problem goes further than just appearances. Just as in person, such people will pull you toward the world and its temptations. This is just another reason blogs are unnecessary for God’s youth.

Yes that's right don't make friends kids it might be with the wrong sort of person. Ya know like someone who actually likes you for who you are, partying, worrying, questions about life and all.

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Good for Irene Mathyssen

NDP demands Oda resign as Minister for Status of Women

OTTAWA – Today, NDP Critic for the Status of Women Irene Mathyssen demanded Bev Oda resign as the Minister responsible for the Status of Women. The changes Oda has made to the funding mandate for the department will severely limit the ability of organizations promoting equal rights for women. These restrictions are unacceptable. They prove that Oda is not committed to promoting the interests of Canadian women.

“The Minister refuses to face the fact that women have not yet achieved equality in Canada,” said Mathyssen. “Study after study and report after report have all come to this conclusion, but the Minister refuses to acknowledge the importance of the work that women’s advocacy groups do.

“Instead, she shuts down organizations or cripples them by cutting their funding. She does not represent women in this country. She must step down,” insisted Mathyssen.

Tuesday, Oda released the new federal guidelines for funding to women’s programs. These guidelines will eliminate federal funding for research programs and cut all advocacy and lobbying activities on behalf of women.

“This is an outrage!” said Mathyssen. “These absurdly restrictive guidelines will mean the end of essential research relating to women in Canada. Long-term and national initiatives will no longer be eligible for the crucial funding they rely on.”

The Minister’s dedication to the Status of Women file is shaky at best. The new mandate was released Tuesday; a week after the last mandate expired.

“This is a clear attack on women’s rights in this country. The conservatives are trying to silence Canadian women.” said Mathyssen. “We are moving backwards. Instead of promoting women’s equality in Canada, the Conservative government is abandoning its obligation to 52% of the population.”

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