Quote of the Week: "I choose my own way to burn"

Sophie Scholl and other members of the White Rose resistance group. Image from Wikipedia.

 
“The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”
-Sophie Scholl

Song of the Week: Listen Through Me by Thrice

This is a partial (belated) Happy Easter post, a partial post to promote one of my absolute favourite bands in the world, and partial first post for my re-vamped "_____" of the Week.

So first of all, Happy Belated Easter. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and long weekend. And for all you Christians who have been lamenting recently over the absence of truly great "Christian" music, here is a song about the Passion that everyone should listen to. Now never ever complain again, because Thrice is amazing, and many of their songs are based off of Christian morals, biblical stories, and Christian writers (most notably, C.S. Lewis). Your wishes have been fulfilled. Go forth and listen.

So, Listen Through Me also (conveniently) happens to be my first Song of the Week. This song is only one example of Thrice's impressive lyrical work (and it isn't even their best work). They are a phenomenal band, I really can't rave about them enough, so check them out!

Lyrics for Listen Through Me

I've seen his ragged shoes
The soles are worn straight through
Well I proclaimed
The king has sang the blues
If you've got better news
Then make it play

He laid aside his crown
All our crimes he carried
Was lifted from the ground
With our burdens buried

Listen to me
Though I speak of sober things
Listen through me
Though we're men of lips unclean
I speak truly
What you only think you've heard
Everything
Everything
Everything hangs on a word

Sparing no expense
He made recompense
For all the earth
The story's an offense
So get down from that fence
And bless or curse

He laid aside his crown
All our crimes he carried
Was lifted from the ground
With our burdens buried
The shadows all had flown
In the light diminished
He emptied out his lungs
Crying it is finished

Listen to me
Though I speak of sober things
Listen through me
Though we're men of lips unclean
I speak truly
What you only think you've heard
Everything
Everything
Everything hangs on a word

A word...

The shadows all had flown
In the light diminished
He emptied out his lungs
Crying it is finished

Listen to me
Though I speak of sober things
Listen through me
Though we're men of lips unclean
I speak truly
What you only think you've heard
Everything
Everything
Everything hangs on a word

A Misguided Sense of Empathy

I have only a few friends who are decisively pro-choice, and all of them are pro-choice because they are able to empathize more easily with the pregnant woman than with the fetus. When we talk about abortion, they always focus on the horror of finding your body change when you don't want it to, the injustice of having to cater your life to someone who you'd rather wasn't there, the difficulty of finding yourself pregnant with the child of a man you don't love, the options and opportunities that disappear once accidental parents are responsible for a new life, and the lives of women who have health risks which are compounded by a pregnancy. They never talk about the lives that are lost, or even the "potential lives" that are lost (if you're a pro-choicer who views an unborn baby as a potential) - in fact, the baby is rarely, if ever, mentioned by them.

My pro-choice friend, who I've mentioned before, also spends a lot of her time lamenting on the "poor young people" and "poor women" who have limited to no access to artificial birth control, and attacking the pro-life side for being largely against the pill, and to a lesser extent against all birth control methods except NFP. She goes into great detail about how difficult it is for her to afford birth control, and how it is a stress that she and her boyfriend should not have to go through. But when I asked her about failure rates, about how she could become pregnant even if she is using contraception, she acknowledged that she does worry about the possibility of becoming pregnant. And when I pointed out that this is a major reason that pro-lifers are against marketing contraception as a solution to abortion (though we are not necessarily against contraception itself) she side-stepped the issue and continued to act as if the pill would completely protect her against an unwanted pregnancy.

So then I brought up how it is horrible that pregnant mothers are not given more support, which often forces them into believing that abortion is their only option, and how this is not a very "pro-choice" state of affairs.  I brought up examples of programs (largely the work of pro-lifers) that help make life a possible choice for women facing unplanned pregnancies, and my friend went right back to the contraception issue - claiming that contraception would make my points completely moot because then there would be no unwanted pregnancies. She claimed all of this even though she had just admitted that contraception fails.

I have always found the focus of self-professing "rabid" pro-choicers to be quite odd. All of the focus is on the mother and on contraception ... the baby is ignored, the actual abortion procedure is ignored, and solutions which would enable women to keep their babies are dismissed as unnecessary "because we have abortion and the pill." The intrinsic morality of killing your child because you cannot deal with them is glossed over or dismissed, the psychological or health effects of the abortion procedure are unimportant when compared to the effects of childbirth.

So even though these friends of mine really do believe that they are being supportive of women, I do not see this worldview as compassionate towards surprise mothers in any way. Everything regarding pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood is seen as evil, unless (of course) the pregnancy was explicitly planned.  As someone who knows and loves many "surprise" babies, I will never understand the misguided sense of empathy pro-choicers feel towards pregnant women. There is nothing compassionate about claiming that contraception will solve everything, and that providing pregnant mothers with help and support beyond the abortion clinic is a side issue not directly related to the abortion debate.

Petition in Support of Motion 312

Sign and spread the word! So far there are 2096 signatures - lets see if we can get that number up by a couple of orders of magnitude.

Seriously, share now. We have a really rare chance to be heard in parliament, another one might not come along for awhile!

Stephen Woodworth discusses the motion:

Question from Pro-Choicers

Yes, yes, and yes a thousand times. Everyone has a right to life. No discrimination based on sexual identity, gender, race, or some nebulous concept of "wantedness."

Council of Canadians with Disabilities response to Taking Mercy

Everyone should read this.
 
"When you reduce the powerful and purposeful lives of persons with disabilities by using trite comments likening our existence to that of pets, plants, mere burdens or simplified stereotypes, you portray us as subhuman and suffering."

"War on Women"

 
A pro-choice friend of mine has been busy posting articles and videos on the much-maligned "war on women" by the GOP. Usually, I find the stuff she posts pretty annoying (I'm sure she thinks the same thing about my pro-life posts), but I actually found this video pretty interesting. Basically, its a bunch of women quoting some prominent Republicans and their supporters. They end the video with a snappy,

"Women will out-vote men by 10 million. 

You might want to keep that in mind. 

We're Women. 

We Vote."

Besides the first comment about aspirin (gross), and the Ann Coulter quote (seriously - ugh), I didn't really have a problem with any of quotes used as evidence that the Republican party is involved in a "war" against women. So, lets deal with the rest of these quotes, shall we?

"Forcing women to have an ultrasound before an abortion is justified because they already made the decision to be vaginally penetrated when they got pregnant." -Republican Lawmaker

Well, when people say stupid shit like this its no wonder pro-choicers went crazy and claimed that ultrasound laws are government-sanctioned rape. However, those who believe that this is the best reason that lawmakers can come up with in support of ultrasound legislation have clearly not done their research. There is no "negative" in requiring both that ultrasounds be done before an abortion, and that the mother should be allowed to see the ultrasound should she ask. It ensures both safety and informed consent. See my rant about informed consent here. See a pro-choicer's take on the rhetoric surrounding ultrasound legislation here (to quote a key paragraph: "I have considerable concerns about what calling these ultrasounds 'rape' and 'unnecessary' will mean for abortion patients and providers. The reality is that most abortion patients do receive an ultrasound to date their pregnancies [...] the transvaginal ultrasound is a useful and common tool that helps providers perform abortions safely and well."). See this article from the Ottawa Citizen about a women who had just undergone an abortion (another key quote: "Anna asked what the fetus looked like and could she see the ultrasound. She said, 'The technician told me she was not allowed to show me the images and I was unable to see the screen' [...] Bu that's exactly what Anna did want."). In my opinion, the main reason that pro-abortion leaders galvanize pro-choicers against this type of legislation is that the majority of mothers who view their unborn child in an ultrasound decide to keep their baby. Who cares about informed consent or safety when women are deciding to keep their children?

"The agenda of Planned Parenthood includes sexualizing young girls through the Girl Scouts." - Reb. Bob Morris

Well, the connection between Planned Parenthood and the Girl Scouts is pretty well-established. Whether they are sexualizing young girls or not really depends on your opinion of what constitutes appropriate sexual health. But this article from Secular Pro-Life is a great spring-board to do some research on the issue - you can go through the comments to find tonnes of links to more information, including the "Healthy, Happy, and Hot" PP brochure that has apparently been handed out at several GS events. Either way, from the controversy surrounding the PP and GS connection, its easy to see why Rep. Bob Morris said what he said.

"The vast majority of abortions are matters of lifestyle convenience." -VA State Del. Tod Gilbert

This one makes me laugh, because it is, quite frankly, very true. Just take a look at this table from the Guttmacher Institute on reasons why women seek abortions. Or you can read through this blog post which summarizes the stats. The most common reason women choose abortions (in both 1987 and 2004)? They aren't ready for a(nother) child. If that's not a matter of lifestyle convenience, I don't know what is.

 "A woman impregnated through rape should accept that horribly-created gift, the gift of human life. Accept what God has given you and make the best of a bad situation." -Rick Santorum

Frankly, I'm sick of the "rape" card. It is incredibly hateful. It trivializes the experiences of all those who have been raped, and it hurts those children who were conceived and born through rape. To really put a face to the issue, go here and read about Rebecca Kiessling, an attorney and pro-life speaker who was conceived through rape. Here is a quick excerpt of what she has to say: "Please understand that whenever you identify yourself as being 'pro-choice,' or whenever you make that exception for rape, what that really translates into is you being able to stand before me, look me in the eye, and say to me, 'I think your mother should have been able to abort you' [...] 'If I had my way, you'd be dead right now.'" I doubt that the lady quoting Rick Santorum could walk up to Rebecca and say that to her face, and yet, by the insinuation that pro-lifers are at war against women because we believe that those conceived through rape are just as worthy of life and love as those conceived through consensual sex, that is exactly what she is saying.

"Why should the government force you to insure for contraceptives. Are they going to have us have to insure for toothpaste? I mean, this is ridiculous." -Rudy Giuliani

Yup, I agree. And the issue isn't insuring for contraceptives, its being forced to. If you want to read some Catholic's perspectives, go here, and especially go to the Patheos blog Bad Catholic. Marc is pretty hilarious and does a decent job demonstrating why religious institutions understand the contraceptive mandate to be a war against religious freedom and not a women's issue. You can start with his first post, and go from there.

"If we're going to pay for you to have contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want you to post the videos online, so we can all watch." -Rush Limbaugh

Ah, the infamous remarks from Rush Limbaugh, which I believe he has since apologized for. Good for him, and good for the media for pressuring him to apologize for saying such things. Woot! Looks like we're a culture that won't take mysoginist crap from anybody, right? Oh wait.

And to summarize the point of this passionate little video:

"The GOP must have a serious problem with women."

Well, two can play that game. Read over the last link I posted from Michelle Malkin. The point she makes, and something that should be obvious to anyone that does not have an agenda, is that the mainstream left has an equally bad, if not worse, track record in their treatment of women from the opposition. To quote, "Self-serving opponents argue that such attacks to not represent 'respectable,' 'mainstream' liberal opinion about their conservative female counterparts. But it was feminist godmother Gloria Steinem who called Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison a "female impersonator." It was NOW leader Patricia Ireland who commanded her flock to only vote for "authentic" female political candidates." ..." etc. Reading through the entire article, it becomes obvious that this so-called "war on women" is being fought on both sides of the US political spectrum. So is the issue really Republican vs. Democrat? Or is it a political culture that focuses only on snappy rhetoric, shallow scandals, and orchestrated controversy?

I think the answer is quite obvious.