Abortion ends in death. Can you live with that?

Abortion ends in death. Can you live with that? I couldn’t. -Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood Director

via LifeNews.com: New Abby Johnson Television Ad Takes on Planned Parenthood





I was a Planned Parenthood Director and Employee of the Year.  I used to tell women that abortions removed a mass of tissue, but that’s not true.  I had to account for the body parts of aborted babies.  Yes, Planned Parenthood prevents pregnancies, but they also provide over 320,000 abortions each year.  They won’t protect your child, there’s no money in doing that.  Abortion ends in death. Can you live with that? I couldn’t. 


Meanwhile, there's this sick article: Celebrating the “Sacred Work” of Planned Parenthood on Good Friday

Boehner, You Can Act Like a Man!

Seriously?  SERIOUSLY?????????!!!!!!!!

ABC's The Note: John Boehner Cries Amid Government Shutdown Standoff

You know, I am REALLY getting sick and tired of Boehner crying all the time!  I feel like slapping them Godfather-style and shouting, "You can act like a man!"




He better overcome this weepyness and stand strong in the budget battle!

A Difficult Goodbye to Knut the Polar Bear

It is with a heavy heart that I share the news that beloved polar bear Knut is dead.  I have written about Knut 10 times, starting when he was a baby and being threatened by "animal-rights" activists.  I had regular updates on the cutest bear ever. 

Then he grew up to be an adult and thus not so cute.  My last update was an article that said Knut was turning into a "publicity-addicted psycho bear."  He was found today dead in the water - did he kill himself?  I can only wonder if he ended up like so many self-destructive, troubled child stars.

He exists now only in our memories, as a cute, lovable baby bear.

MSNBC has a nice Knut retrospective photo gallery here.

Links to all my Knut posts, beginning with my first:

Talk about destroying the villiage to save it . . . so sad!

Polar cub update - w/ new cute pic!

I'm nuts for Knut!

Are they Knuts?!

RIP Cute Knut (Welcome old, ugly Knut)

Nearing the end of an era

Another Knut-ty update!

WAAAAHH! I miss baby Knut!

Knut is going knuts!

 

RIP, Knut (2007-2011)

How Planned Parenthood Exploits Minors

How sick to think that Planned Parenthood workers are so eager to facilitate minors exercising their "reproductive freedom" to abort that they don't consider or care that these trafficked and abused children have been stripped of any real reproductive freedom - to choose whether or not to engage in sexual activity - and are being raped and exploited.

To Planned Parenthood, getting a quick buck off of their minor victims is more important than their health or safety.

Big Abortion values "access," (i.e. as many clinics as possible to rake in the dough) above all else and is willing to tolerate abuses so long as their larger goals are met.

They'd rather have dirty, dangerous abortion mills in operation than have these clinics submit to government health inspections and regulations that would put them out of business. They'd rather help exploited child prostitutes get secret abortions than report abuse to authorities and scare other potential predator customers away.

After all, choosing to help women and children would be bad for business and, in the end, Big Abortion is big business. One that the government should not be funding with our tax dollars.

Amplify’d from www.washingtontimes.com

WAGNER: Planned Parenthood: A culture of sexploitation

Group takes federal money while ignoring laws against exploitation of minors

Under the federal anti-trafficking law, any juvenile younger than 18 who is subjected to commercial sexual exploitation is a victim of human trafficking - a victim of modern-day slavery. Under our legal system, no child can consent to engage in prostitution. Similarly, no children who are trapped in a situation of commercial sexual exploitation can give informed consent to undergo an abortion or receive a regime of contraception because of the trauma and manipulation to which they are subjected routinely and constantly. Yet the health care providers in these videos appear all too eager to sign up juvenile victims for both abortions and contraceptives.

To subject a juvenile victim of commercial sexual exploitation to either an abortion or contraception has only one purpose: to sustain her exploitation, and only one beneficiary: the trafficker/pimp. This is why the Live Action videos are so revealing and so shocking. They show health care professionals, employed by a national organization receiving taxpayer funds, who not only do not fulfill their obligation to report to authorities these potential cases of child abuse, but actually are willing to facilitate that abuse. Read more at www.washingtontimes.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/budt1

UPDATE: WAAAAAAAH Most Virginia abortion clinics can't meet new health and safety standards and will have to close!  BOO HOO

What does this say about these clinics?

My Toilet, My Choice!

This is pretty funny! It's not too often the Senate dabbles in toilet talk - at least in a productive way. But Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) did just that yesterday when he gripped about low flow government toilet standards that have made toilets less effective.

I'm familiar with these kind of Al Gore toilets and you can tell the difference. Often you have to flush it twice (which kind of defeats the purpose of limiting the number of gallons flushed in newer toilets, doesn't it?) to get it to do the job the old toilets used to do.

I think Sen. Paul speaks for many of us when he says, “I’ve been waiting 20 years to talk about how bad these toilets are!"

Here are some humorous blurbs from a Politico article on the hearing:

Amplify’d from www.politico.com

Paul wants government hands off his toilet

And don’t even get him started about his toilet.

“Frankly, my toilets don’t work in my house, and I blame you and people like you who want to tell me what I can install in my house,” Paul said. He added, “I find it insulting.

“But you come instead with fines [and] threats of jail.” (For the record, at no point during the hearing did Hogan threaten to arrest Paul.)

Hogan said, “My view is what you want —” “Is to buy a toilet that works!” Paul interrupted.

“I’ve been waiting 20 years to talk about how bad these toilets are,” Paul later said.

Chairman Jeff Bingaman responded, “Well, I’m sorry about your toilet.” Read more at www.politico.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/btxyv

Joe Biden GREATEST.PICTURE.EVER

Ok, this has to be the GREATEST.PICTURE.EVER of dear old Joey Biden:

Now, really - who wouldn't want this to be the face of Delaware schools?!
Delaware voters say no to Joe Biden -- for name of school


h/t Hoosier Access: Caption this! 
My fav caption submission so far is "I went to my plastic surgeon... got the 'Nancy Pelosi'"

The Greatest Role of All: Motherhood, Feminism, and Natalie Portman

Last night at the Oscars, Natalie Portman was giving her acceptance speech for Best Actress when she thanked "my beautiful love, Benjamin Millepied who choreographed the film and has now given me the most important role of my life" - motherhood.  It was a beautiful moment, but this Salon writer, Mary Elizabeth Williams, found Portman's words "jarring."  She got the creepy-crawlies at the thought of motherhood.  She doesn't like it when people:

refer[] to motherhood as the most important thing a woman can possibly do ... is motherhood really a greater role than being secretary of state or a justice on the Supreme Court?  Is reproduction automatically the greatest thing Natalie Portman will do with her life? 

Well, I happen to agree that motherhood is Portman's most important role.  But we're not talking about a woman secretary of state or justice, we're talking about an actress.  And because she's an actress, the term "role" is quite literal.  Portman has played many parts in her young career, from Queen Amidala to Anne Boleyn to Nina Sayers in Black Swan for which she won her award for Best Actress in a Lead ROLE.  So, yes, I would say Mother is far more important a role to play than any of these characters.  And good for her for saying so!

But the Slate author just doesn't get it:

Why, at the pinnacle of one's professional career, would a person feel the need to undercut it by announcing that there's something else even more important? Even if you feel that way, why downplay your achievement? 

Wow, really?  She begrudges Portman for having the humility to acknowledge that there are things in this world bigger and more important than - GASP - acting?!

Interestingly enough, the writer quotes Annette Bening as an example of - well, actually, I'm not sure WHY she quotes Bening, something about working mothers but the point isn't clear - but Bening gets to the heart of what the writer doesn't understand.  She says of motherhood, in part:

"a lot of the time your life is not about you ... There's that selflessness you need to find ..."

Seems like Portman has already found that selflessness, while the writer wishes she would simply be selfish and bask in herself and her own glory.

The author goes on to gripe:

when was the last time a male star gave an acceptance speech calling fatherhood his biggest role?

I'm not sure if any man has or hasn't, but someone should have.  Fatherhood is a very important role, especially today when 22% of children live in single mother homes.  In fact, isn't it Hollywood and the Left that are always trying to tell us fathers aren't all that important?

In closing, the author writes:

Motherhood is important. So is work. And you don't have to backhandedly downplay one to be proud of the other.

How does saying her most important role is that of a mother "backhandedly downplay" her role in Black Swan?  She's not insulting her own work, but stating the simple fact that there are more important things in life.

The visceral reaction from people like the Slate writer, upon watching Natalie Portman talk about "the most important role of [her] life," makes complete sense when you consider that it goes against everything strident feminists believe.  Any good thoughts about motherhood or the mere presence of a visibly pregnant woman gives them the heebie jeebies because, to them, motherhood is a choice and their first instinct is that a baby is a parasite to be removed. 

We can't be too complementary of motherhood lest we offend the women who chose to kill their babies.  We can't call it the most important role because that is insensitive to women who don't have or want children.  We can't celebrate the unique role of the mother because that would mean acknowledging the differences between men and women and that these differences can be good.  We can't talk about motherhood and careers at the same time because that means that we value one over the other and both are equally good and valid - especially having a career.


Only a feminist would complain about an actress not being self-centered and narcissistic.  Only a feminist would be offended at the thought of raising the next generation being one's most important role.  Only a feminist would consider being thankful to have a child with the one you love a backhanded slap at your career. 


How sad that this writer chose to throw a feminissy fit over this beautiful moment for Natalie Portman and her family.  I wish Portman well in the greatest role she, or any woman, will ever play.


UPDATE 3/1: KJ Dell'Antonia from Slate gets in on the act, saying Portman was just "spouting the party line" and adds: 

every time a powerful woman downplays her other achievements as inferior to her maternal status, she feeds the doubt that still pursue working mothers at every end of the spectrum: Will she really take her work seriously or will she put her children first? 

Again, this isn't a zero sum game - calling motherhood your most important role does not downplay other achievements, and the choice isn't between either "take work seriously" or "put children first."  Feminists might not believe it, but women CAN do a job well, while prioritizing their children's lives - women are known for their great abilities to multi-task, after all.

But even if it WERE a zero sum game, so what?  The role of mother is more important than any regular "job" and it should be - whoops, can't say that! - might hurt some working mom's feelings or make her doubt herself!  We aren't allowed to say ANYTHING is more important than a career because apparently that is the end all and be all of being a woman, anything else is bending to the will of the powerful and oppressive patriarchy or some such b.s.

Sensitivity Training on the Battlefield???

This is ridiculous on so many levels!!! First of all, the whole notion of sensitivity "training" of any kind is a bunch of liberal mamby pamby hooey.



Second of all, WHY in the h*ll are these reeducation sessions being done on the BATTLEFIELD, of all places??? They say, "We HOPE that it will have little impact on their combat and security operations here." Hope? HOPE???!!! Maybe "hope" worked to bamboozle the American public into electing Obama, but you need a little more than HOPE when it comes to combat and security!



Third, repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell has not even been certified yet! Why are we rushing into these liberal kumbaya circles in a war zone when the repeal isn't in effect? If it could be found to hurt combat readiness, then we sure as h*ll shouldn't be bringing sensitivity trainings to promote it into combat.



Bottom line: Get the h*ll away from our men and women in uniform on the front lines in active war zones! Their lives and their immediate mission is more important than indulging in your group therapies!

Amplify’d from www.washingtontimes.com

Combat troops to get gay sensitivity training

American combat troops will get sensitivity training directly on the battlefield about the military’s new policy on gays instead of waiting until they return to home base in the United States

We hope that it will have little impact on their combat and security operations here

However, the ban will stay in effect until the secretary of defense certifies that repeal of the policy will not hurt combat readiness.

Elaine Donnelly, who heads the Center for Military Readiness, said it is “ridiculous” to train combat Army soldiers and Marines as they are engage in daily combat with tenacious insurgents.

“It’s absurd because the military has more important things to think about in that dangerous part of the world,” she said. “For the administration to say this is more important than even with the troops we’re trying to train in that part of the world, I think it shows flawed priorities at best. It is ridiculous.” Read more at www.washingtontimes.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/brryi

RI Teachers Union: Budget Cuts are our Pearl Harbor

After Jesse Jackson compared the Wisconsin union protesters to MLK, the Civil Rights movement, and  Gandhi, here's some more hyperbolic rhetoric involving another teachers union dispute across the country in Rhode Island:

“This is beyond insane,” Providence Teachers Union President Steve Smith said Tuesday night. “Let’s create the most chaos and the highest level of anxiety in a district where teachers are already under unbelievable stress. Now I know how the United States State Department felt on Dec. 7, 1941.” That was the day the Japanese government bombed Pearl Harbor.[for those of you who graduated from public school]

Apparently RI state law requires teachers be notified of termination by March 1, but the school district doesn't know how many teachers it will need to lay off for budget cuts yet, so the district is sending out notifications to all teachers to cover all its bases. 

HEADLINE OF THE DAY: Inmate Hid 30 Items in Rectum

Had to come out of blogging hibernation for this one:

Inmate Hid 30 Items in Rectum: Jailer

As Ron Burgundy would say, "I'm not even mad, that's AMAZING!"

It gets better:

Inside the condom they found: 17 blue pills, a cigarette, a flint, six matches, an empty syringe with a pencil eraser over the needle tip, a container of lip balm, an unused condom, a pharmacy receipt and a coupon.

REALLY?  A pharmacy coupon???  Just in case he wanted to return something later?!  And what was the coupon for?!!