Isn't that cute?

Last week i enjoyed reading about President Bush's tour of Africa. It was just so quaint. Not only did he manage to get some media coverage of him attempting to dance with a Libian girl, he also got some brilliant sound clips. My personal favourite was his thoughts on how to stop HIV.

He claims he works on the ABC policy (Abstinence, Be faithful, use Condoms). If he'd stick to the same acronym rule this might make more since, but its Bush, so i'll just classify it as "cute". As in: "Isn't that cute that he knows three letters in five words!".

The other thing i just find so cute about him is his belief that every country has the same culture as he does; you know, inbred Texan. It is adorable how he simply wipes away hundred of years of another culture with a simple "ABC" policy. (There is no stigma against having multiple partners in Africa. In some places it is even encouraged. There is no money for people when they get old. Your best insurance is to have lots of children who can take care of you when you can no longer work. Having fewer children means risking starving to death late in life. Thus multiple sexual partners helps bring more children. Using condoms risks not having children.)

I know that i should be angry at Bush for having such a pathetic policy that blatantly goes against everything they believe in. I know i should shake my fist at his stupid acronyms but there really is nothing more than can be done about his ways. After all his time is coming and a new man (or woman) will take over. So there is no more reason to be angry...i can just shake my head and laugh at his silly childish ways.

question (part 2)

Well, after doing some online research about the previous post, i came up with this conclusion:

Abortion statistics are fickle.

First of all most abortion statistics are displayed by those who are pro-life (read: anti-abortion, pro death penalty).This means that they "torture the numbers until they'll tell you anything you want.". They fail to mention that the data collected includes natural abortions (where the body aborts the pregnancy on its own, also known as a miscarriage). This skews the figures since many women will experience a miscarriage in their lifetime. But since this is counted as an abortion, they can then claim that"Worldwide, the lifetime average is about 1 abortion per woman."

Its frustrating. It suddenly sounds like all women hate having children...or worse, they all get pregnant recklessly and flippantly get rid of the 'problem'. It makes women seem irrational at best and at worst, villianises them.

I suppose i could break into a man conspiracy; making women to be less than they are...but i don't think this is the case. The answer is far less complicated. It has more to do with keeping people shocked and fearful. Statistics that 'prove' so many abortions are being cared out each year is shocking...especially when you personally don't know that you know of anyone who's had an abortion...and it keeps people fearful of the people around them by making them wonder if they are secretly a "baby killer".

I don't think that assisted abortions are as common as as the statistics claim. I do think that when politics get involved it's less about the 'babies' and more about controlling the people.

So in the end, we're still left wondering where Bush found his numbers...but it's less important. We know he tortured them into doing his will anyway, after all he's stance on the torture issue is already well known... even Canada. knows.

question...

US President Bush has claimed in his speach to the pro-life marchers that 1 in 5 pregnacies end in abortion. Does any one know where he got that figure? Has any one seen any research to back up that number?

I would like to know if that figure includes abortions that the body does itself without help from doctors. Does the statistic take into account all pregnancies or just in the USA?

If anyone can help me out, i'd definitely like to know.

Death

I'm possibly one of the very few liberals who believes in the death sentence. I know its disturbing and gut wrenching, but i believe that in extreme cases a death sentence is appropriate. I do NOT believe it should be handed out like candy, however.

Today I've been researching the death sentence in the united states and I've come across some thing that has made me turn cold. In GW Bush's five years as Governor of Texas, there were 131 executions. The highest number in the united states. During this time there was only 1 prisoner was granted a commuting of sentence (that from death to life in prison). And that came about at the same time he was running for president AND it was proven in the media that even though this man had confessed to the murder he wasn't even in the same state at the time of it.

In his list of conquests, Bush has executed a man who committed a crime when he was 16 (a juvenile and is prohibited under international law), a mentally handicapped man, and a woman who had so clearly changed her jailers requested a commuting of her sentence. All of these people are dead now. and if that isn't enough to cause you to pause, maybe this is.

In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, a number of protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Karla Faye Tucker. "Did you meet with any of them?" I ask. Bush whips around and stares at me. "No, I didn't meet with any of them", he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. "I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with Tucker, though. He asked her real difficult questions like, 'What would you say to Governor Bush?'" "What was her answer?" I wonder. "'Please,'" Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "'don't kill me.'" I must look shocked — ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel — because he immediately stops smirking.

taken from Talk Magazine (September 1999, p. 106).

Perhaps what makes me the most angry is the article that conducted research into the legal system in Texas. It found that those being tried were not being adequately represented. Out of the 131 people sentenced to death, one third of all defence lawyers were later sacked for being bad lawyers. In 40 cases defence lawyers presented no evidence.

In case your saying that all this sounds sad, but these were criminals and deserved what they got, well, they may not have been criminals. Without adequate lawyers to help defend them, they were railroaded to meet a quota. Is this really the sort of legal system we want to support?

sources:
Anthony Lewis
Karla Faye Tucker- Wikipedia
Death in Texas

scary stuff

while surffing the net i came across the most horrific photo. This photo, while scary in and of itself, is all the more scary to me because i grew up in this part of the world and this place. (i'm not talking about the country, i'm talking about not too far away from where this pic was taken!) okay ready? deep breathe....here it is.