Death to the Nuclear Family!

Okay, just kidding. Obviously. But some (I'm looking at you, Raph) seem to believe this is indeed the battle cry of some imaginary Feminist Jihad against all that was Good and Perfect "Back In The Day". You know, the age of Beaver Cleaverism before the darkness of feminism descended upon the earth and women suddenly tore off their aprons and became lesbians, witches and pagans. Or worse yet, entered the work force and became financially independent. Life has apparently taken a major shit since women gained a little self-determination... and the fact that I'm even writing about this today shows that we've got a ways to go.

In a somewhat bizarre and byzantine hypothesis based on the idea that Feminism is destroying the Family(!?), Raphael posits that there's a correlation between the rise of feminism and the "fall of the family" -- if indeed the family has fallen, which in itself seems like kind of an absurd notion since I see families all around me. As anyone familiar with statistics knows, correlation is not causation, but you wouldn't know it by Raphael's post, which seems to blame every ill visited upon society since the latter 20th century on Teh Feminism. But before I start my evisceration, I need to know if I'm (hopefully) misunderstanding the idea of RA's post.

As far as I can see, it runs something like this:

1. Rosie the Riveter gets the Women In The Workforce ball rolling during WWII. Ball gains momentum until...*
1(i). ... BOOM! Feminism arrives in a big way in the 60s
2. Women begin entering the workforce in record numbers
3. Women enjoy financial independence (well, duh!), and start choosing careers over their Rightful Place in The Home
4. Correspondingly, women choose to have smaller families to accommodate their careers (thank you, Ortho-Novum, and thank you, Dr. Morgentaler)
5. The dual-income marriage, while not allowing the time for a lot of kids, allows for the buying of mucho consumer toys, which at some point becomes addictive(?)
6. An increasingly consumption-oriented society forces the cost of living to rise

(At this point, there's a decade or two of the vicious revolving circle of work, buy, work, buy, work, buy etc., which causes the cost of living to spiral astronomically.)

7. The economy eventually demands that both partners in a marriage be earners just to accomplish what could have been done on one salary in the 50's.
8. This seals the fate of the family, which has shrunk from the 3- or 4-child situations of the 50s to 2.5 or less (or 1.8 or 2.2 or whatever the fuck).
9. The state deals with a diminishing population by allowing Immigration to rise to "Holy Shit! We're Being Overrun!" levels. Now, not only the family, but Our Way Of Life As We Know It is threatened...

SHRIEEEEEEEEEK!!!

10. The collapse of civilization, and all because those bitches wouldn't stay in the kitchen. Have I got that about right, Raph? (I sure hope not.)

*Thanks to Scotian in the comments for pointing this out to me.

6 degrees of separation

Look who stopped by and weighed in about his friend Bill:

The good reverend calls me a fascist nazi, yeah "ouch", and stands up for his friend Bill... at least it sure sounds like they're friends, wouldn't you say? Or at least friendly acquaintances. And then the little screed about gays... the post was about the CHRC trouble Billy's brought on Free Dominion, which had nothing to do with gays. Maybe the reverend just didn't like my pretty rainbow flag?

But my point is: here is yet another link between so-called *moderate* so-called "pro-lifers" and domestic terrorism. When will they either denounce these extremists in word and deed, or admit that they own the bastards?

Vacay interruptus

That's it! There are times when I just have to blog because if I don't my head might spin off and burst into flames. Sometimes things really are that bad. One of those times/things is this ridiculous travesty of an online freepathon:

"Former prime minister Pierre Trudeau has ranked as the worst Canadian according to an online poll, beating out notorious killers Paul Bernardo, Karla Homolka and Clifford Olsen." [...]

The top 10 list included four prime ministers, three convicted criminals, two singers, one doctor and one former Canadian.

Abortion doctor Henry Morgentaler ranked third, edging out former prime minister Brian Mulroney in fourth."

So. According to this poll run by the Beaver, a historical magazine, Trudeau is the Worst. Canadian. Ever. and Dr. Henry Morgentaler is right up there with him in third place. Worse than three serial killers. Worse than Clifford Olsen? Someone unfamiliar with Canadian politics might think: "Hmm. These are Two Bad Dudes, this Prime Minister and this Doctor. What heinous, unspeakable crimes catapulted them past serial killers and into the top three?" Well, just look at what they have in common: women's rights, baby! Trudeau decriminalized abortion in 1969, and Morgentaler sealed the deal, making abortion nobody's goddamn business but women and their doctors, in 1988. Unspeakably and unthinkably evil crimes indeed.

It's Great Canadian Wish List Redux. Another glorious social conservative "victory" won by freeping, cheating and sock puppetry. But... they brag about it!? "All that freeping paid off" says BBW. This I don't get. Freeping paid off? In what? The power and the glory of seeing what they wish was the real opinion of Canadians reflected in an online poll that had the shit freeped out of it? I can see them doing the happy dance if an unfreeped poll came up with those results, but when you have to cheat... and freeping is cheating... errr I don't think that's considered cause for a victory lap, unless you're riding in the Tour de France and everyone is equally freeped.

There. That felt good.

Here's why it's important.

Since last week's decision by SCOTUS to uphold the ban on late-term abortions, anti-choicers have been asking "What's the big deal about banning one procedure?" The non-medically-trained Supreme Court is dictating which medical procedures may be indicated in a blanket decision that applies to a multitude of situations where virtually every one is different; anyone who doesn't find that worrying is well and truly brain-dead.

This man's story is all over the internet but I'm re-posting the link in the interest of keeping it on the radar. It's about how he had to make the decision to abort when his wife's pregnancy went so wrong that her life was in danger. It's an example of the real-world implications of the late-term abortion ban: women will die. You'd think people who call themselves "pro-life" would care about someone dying, but do they? Not one fucking bit. "What's the big deal?" Here's the big deal, you ignorant fuckwads.

(via birth pangs)