The Mommy Wars

Surfing around the blogosphere this morning I came across this post: "11 Reasons Why Working Mothers Can't Stand Housewives" . These include:

1. They have nothing to talk about but their kids. I'm tired of hearing about your stupid kids. Get a life and have something else to talk about.

8. They claim to be doing society a favor by breeding, but we all know it's an inherently selfish endeavor. News flash - raising your brats is not a favor to me!

9. They take their toddler along to the older child's ballet lesson, then completely ignore him as he proceeds to scream, whine, disrupt the class, and generally appear to be wasting away from lack of truly involved interaction

Wow! I know nothing about this woman, but this post is super bitchy!

Someone posted a great comment in response and made her own list:

I'm not sure who wrote this, but I find this very offensive. I happen to be a black at-home mom, and I find just as offended as I would if I saw a post, "11 reasons why white people can't stand black people." I can't believe the stereotypes and lack of respect at-homes get. [...]So I made up a list of my own:

1. Employed mothers talk about their boring jobs all the time. They really believe that juggling numbers for the benefit of their boss is fascinating.

2. Employed mothers look down on at-home moms.

3. Employed moms will call you when their kid is too sick to go to daycare, and then insult you by saying how much better their lives are by being employed.

4. Employed mothers don't understand that many at-home moms are intelligent women who find full-time caregiving interesting, important work.
[...]

Well I'm not a mother yet, and I don't plan on being one for another 8-10 years. George and I have talked about this situation, and we agree that one parent has to stay home until they are in school. It doesn't matter to me if it's myself or him. It will depend on our employment situation.

The child-care debate is active in our society right now. I firmly believe that the government should not be responsible in providing care for your children. If you have children, YOU should raise them. Plain and simple.

I am so thankful for my mom staying home with us. She paid the price, she's worked full time jobs but can't go as far, or doesn't make as much as the men in her office, because she hasn't had the experience or 'time in'.

Therefore, I get really frustrated when the stat of women only make $0.75 of every man's $1.00 is used. The statistic is misleading. Unfortunately it is used so often, that people think it's true. I think I might write a post in dismantling this stat. Stay tuned.

Pedophiles to Start a Political Party

Yup you heard right. Pedophiles in the Netherlands will start their own political party. Their political objectives include lowering the age of sexual relations from 16 to 12, and eventually doing away with an age limit because: a "ban just makes children curious", says party founder Ad van den Berg. Other objectives include allowing child pornography and bestiality.

We are not making this up. We're not allowed to make things up.

TTC Strike Only Hurt the Working Man

Taylor & Co. made an excellent point about yesterday's TTC wildcat strike:

In my case a transit strike simply means working from home; at the Firm, something like 75% of the workforce uses laptops and mobile computing devices. Of the seven people in my team, two were on vacation, two took the GO Train (and subsequently did arrive at the office), and the remaining three worked from home. We could still communicate via phone, e-mail and corporate instant messaging service. I understand even the front-line grunts on national help desk are issued with laptops and the ability to route calls to their homes. So from the Firm's perspective, yesterday was like any other day. Tasks delayed: none. Projects delayed: none. Deadlines missed: none. Industry humming along as usual, in other words.

Congratulations, Bob Kinnear and Local 113. Keep on fighting 21st century commerce with 19th-century tactics; while you were out on picket lines, I was in air-conditioned comfort at home. I managed to stay on top of my workload and will be rebated a day's Metropass costs, to boot. Your 800 maintenance workers will get docked a day's pay and be a day behind on their duties. You know who you hurt with this wildcat strike? Students and seniors, for starters. The poor, who can't afford 30-buck cab fares downtown. And others whose living depends on mass agglomeration of commuters downtown -- people working in coffee shops, hot dog stands, food court outlets -- not to mention all those businesses retailing inside subway stations. You know, ordinary working-class joes. Way to stick it to the Man.
[...]

Hat Tip: Babbling Brooks

I'm Having Deja Vue!

Riots in France? Iran protests over cartoon? Reading some headlines this morning, I thought I had gone back in time:

Riots in France caused by the arrest of a suspect in an attack of a bus driver:

PARIS (Reuters) - Youths clashed with police in a Paris suburb overnight and attacked the home of the local mayor in disturbances one police union said were the worst since a wave of urban riots shook France in November.

French media said some 150 youths armed with baseball bats fought around 250 police for four hours in Montfermeil north of Paris after the arrest of a youth suspected of attacking a bus driver, an incident witnessed by the local mayor Xavier Lemoine.
[...]

Protests over Cartoon:

On Friday, the Farsi-language paper Iran published a cartoon showing a cockroach speaking Azeri, the language of an ethnic group in northwestern Iran.

The cartoon provoked riots in Tabriz, the capital of Eastern Azerbaijan province, on Monday. Police fired tear-gas as rioters smashed windows of the local governor’s office.
[... ]

Political Correctness The NDP will kill us

Wasteful government spending strikes again! Nothing like the NDP putting money to good use:

OTTAWA – Today, NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North) introduced a Private Member’s Bill to establish a National Breast Implant Registry to protect women’s health.

“Breast implants have been shown in the past to pose a serious health risk to women, yet we are lacking the basic tools for independent monitoring to keep track of their health impacts,” said Wasylycia-Leis. “The NDP and women’s health organizations have been pushing for a registry for years. We even have Health Canada’s own Expert Advisory Panel backing a registry, yet there was nothing in the budget to support this. Is women’s health protection not on the Conservative radar screen?”
[...]

Give me a break!!! I truly don't understand the left of centre politically ideology that think that personal responsibility does not exist and that the government should be responsible for everything. As Carrie Lukas said in her book that I reviewed a little while back, the government shouldn't be considered a "sugar-daddy".

Bottom line: If you CHOOSE to get breast implants, then take care of your own health.


Hat Tip: Dissonance and Disrespect

Politically Correctness May Kill Us

I am actually not surprised about the CSIS annoucement yesterday.

About 90 per cent of immigration applicants from Pakistan and Afghanistan -- hotbeds for Islamic fundamentalism and central in the fight against terrorism -- haven't been adequately screened for security concerns over the past five years, Canada's spy agency said yesterday. The No. 2 man at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said his organization simply doesn't have the resources necessary to do all the security checks it would like.
[...]

Unfortunately in Canada, politically correctness has gone too far. Even though a large number of extremist Islamic terrorists come from nations in the middle east, we don't dare single these nations out, because it's 'racist'.

It makes so sense to me though. If I am a detective, and my suspect is a red head, to find my suspect I am going to stop all the red heads (whether they range from strawberry blonds to auburns).

But at the same time:

[...]In addition, non-traditional adherents to Islamist extremism are making the switch. "We have cases of white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants converting to the most radical forms of Islam," he said. "These are people who blend in with us and our neighbours." [...]

Terrorist can be any gender, nationality, and ethnicity. Therefore 100 per cent of immigrants should have security checks no matter if they are from England or Iraq. No exceptions. If we do not have the resources to do ALL of the security checks, then we can't take in 300,000 immigrants. Canada has a quota system of the number of immigrants we have to take in, but if we can't do the proper checks on everyone, then we take meet our quota.

I think 300,000 is a good target. Since Canadian-borns are not repopulating at a rate to keep our country going we need immigration. I am proud that I live in a nation that takes in people froma around the world who want a new life and want to contribute to our nation and build for a great future.

However, we cannot be naive.

Some may say that CSIS is just fear-mongering and such, however, if a person really think that there aren't any terrorists cells in Canada, then this person is also an issue. Ignorance is bliss until your city is bombed.

Until we have the resources to ensure that similar domestic terrorism such as the London bombings, won't happen we need to reevaluate our immigration policies and procedures. I sure hope that these security measures are not delegated to local police forces as one man suggested on CFRA this morning.

So who is responsible for the lax security checks? But if the last federal government did not do anything about it, then I hope that Stephen Harper steps up to the plate! Of course though this will reflect poorly on the Conservatives because they will be seen as anti-immigrant.

Anti Anti-"American-Style"

"American-style". You hear it all the time! I for one hear it all the time in University classes. Stephen Taylor has comprised a bunch of fallacious arguments that are often used to describe or argue against Conservative policies. I remember taking Philosophy 105-Practical Reasoning, where we learned about how to take apart arguments, point out flaws etc... and I learned a lot of these fallacies. This campaign against anything that is "american-style" has annoyed me for a while, but I never put the sentiments into words. Stephen does quite a good job! Check it out!
[...]
I've always been a fan of the logical fallacy. When countering an argument from a political or ideological opponent, things are often made easier when one's debating foe makes a point that has a blatant logical fallacy. Among the easiest to point out are ad hominem, non sequitur and the straw man.
[...]
Unfortunately, many amateur debaters, and some that have mastered the practice, use a form of ad hominem that I call reductio ad americanum. In the 'national debate' that we have in the Tim Horton's, the hockey rinks and even the Houses of Parliament across the land, ad americanum can be heard whenever one asserts that surely Canadians cannot implement a certain policy because it's "American-style" be it "american-style healthcare", "american-style tax cuts" or "american-style immigration". In fact, one does not need to debate the finer points of any public policy so long as the Americans have done something similar because according to those who rely upon ad americanum attacks, those roughnecks south of the border have never done anything worthy of consideration in their 230 year history.
[...]
Click here for the rest.

Big Brother=Lower Insurance Rates

This is an interesting idea. I get frustrated with how much I'm paying in insurance. I only need insurance when I'm living with my parents in the summer. So I'm registered as an occasional driver since I only take the car out twice a week. Even though I'm 22, I have a Defence Driving Course from the Canadian Forces as well as Driver's Education, my parents gave me the rate of $177/month to insure me as an occasional driver! Anyway, I have no say in changing it, but it pisses me off why I have to pay so much! That's over $2000 per year! And plus, my parents aren't allowed to take me off insurance when I'm not home, I have to sign up for an entire year. So when I read this article this morning about someone watching you drive and rewarding good drivers, I was ready to say sign me up!

Volunteer to be watched:Having someone track your driving behaviour — how fast you go, how hard you jump on the brakes, and so on -- sounds like a Big Brother-type nightmare (unless you're the parent of a teenage driver, of course). But what if you monitored yourself and then sent the information to someone voluntarily? And what if it could save you money on your insurance rates? Easyway Insurance Brokers of Ontario, a large independent brokerage, has launched something it calls "Save As You Drive." All you do is install a device that tracks your driving behaviour, and then send the info it generates to Easyway.

"Good driving habits should be rewarded with lower car insurance rates," says John Belyea, the president of Easyway Insurance. "Unfortunately, the technology hasn't existed to allow drivers to prove their abilities - until now." The Easyway "smart meter" allows drivers to track their speed, the time of day, total mileage and whether they aggressively accelerate or brake. Drivers can review the data on their PC before submitting it and be eligible for a discount of up to 30% on their rates, and regardless of their driving, their rates won't go up.

Smart idea, right? Just think of how you could extend that to other things. How about health insurance that decreases if you agree to install cameras that record how long you sit on the couch eating chips and drinking beer? Or a chip in your fridge that records how many vegetables you eat -- or better yet, an implantable chip that monitors your blood pressure and immune system, and raises or lowers your insurance rates based on whether you eat a lot of fat or not? The possibilities are endless.

Source: G&M

Why I'm Glad I Don't Live in Toronto Reason # 32556

So about 700,000 people who rely on the TTC are stranded today because of an illegal strike by TTC maintenance workers! Lol I can just imagine people on their cell phones scrabbling to call neighbours and coworkers for a ride! And this is just one more reason why I'm glad I don't live in Toronto!

Hundreds of thousands of Toronto commuters were left scrambling Monday morning when a labour dispute with maintenance workers brought transit services in Canada's biggest city to a halt.

The Toronto Transit Commission said it has cancelled morning subway, streetcar and bus service because picket lines prevented employees from entering TTC garages.

A message on the service's Web site announced simply: “No TTC Service today.”

More than 700,000 people rely on the service each day. The disruption caught many by surprise. Even after news of the wildcat strike spread, commuters approached the doors of downtown subway stations, only to find them locked. Cab companies were reporting at least one-hour waits for taxis.
[...]

Click here to read the rest.

The Evolution of Dance

This is too funny! Comedian Judson Laipply goes through the evolution of dance in 6 minutes! Oh the memories!! Fun for all ages! Click here for the link. Enjoy!

Blogger VS. Journalist

I stumbled upon a good post from Civitatensis about the different between blogging and journalism.

I am a blogger, not a journalist:
A recent front page headline in the National Post about Iran wanting to compel its non-Muslim citizens to wear distinctive markers on their clothing drew a couple of nasty comments. The headline report was false. Some of the comments have prompted me to think about blogs and my blogging.
[...]
By the very nature of blogging, the distinction between the two activities is blurred. The more so since some journalists blog, and some bloggers blog like journalists. But it does not make the two the same. Journalists have editors and third parties look at their copy before publication, they have a deep pool of resources, fact-checkers and data bases.

Some resourceful bloggers, conversely, can make up for the institutional lack of resources and conduct careful research, triple edit their own copies, etc.. Typically, bloggers who have the discipline to do these things are the better bloggers. In addition, although journalists are bound by ethical and professional guidelines, most responsible bloggers can keep to similar principles. Honesty and integrity are not inherent characteristics of journalists.
[...]
Click here to read the rest.

I Was Patient Number 9,284,096

So I decided to go to the walk-in clinic today. I can't seem to shake this cold that I've had for three weeks now. This past week my symptoms were at the worst. I completely lost my voice the day I had that TV interview with Rogers. I am coughing up gross colours of phlegm, that I'm sure you rather not hear about. I'm coughing so much that I think I might cough up a lung and it's hard to breathe with all the phlegm. When I cough I feel pain in my upper chest too. Along with this I've had the sweats, chills, fatigue, headache, and sore throat.

What does the doctor tell me?

Take an antihistamine.

That will be 3 hours of my life that I will never get back. I didn't want to go in the first place, but I have friends, family and my significant other worried about me not getting over this damn cold. So I went.

The doctor at the walk-in clinic looked like he was on his last breath. Out to lunch time to retire!

I came home and slept some more this afternoon and woke up with the sweats even though I was wearing very little and didn't have a blanket on!

Yeah, an antihistamine will do me real good

I asked the doctor what I should do if I'm still sick by next week. He said to come back and see a doctor. Go figure.

Now Serving Patient Number 9,284,095

I read a good post over at Celestial Junk

This morning on John Gormley Live, the leader of the Saskatchewan oppositon revealed that the Socialist Utopian government of Saskatchewan will spend 3.2 billion dollars on healthcare this year; or 47% of the entire government annual budget. At the same time, it was revealed that many basic health services will still not be paid for, such as at home oxygen therapy for those dying of respiratory diseases. And, there is absolutely no indication that the longest waiting lists in Canada will be effectively dealt with.

Here’s the rub: The $3,200,000,000 tax payers dollars is being spent and paid for by a population numbering just under one million people. Now, just pause a moment to think about it. One million people… $3.2 billion bucks… that makes about $3,200.00 spent for every man, woman, and child every year.

Then, take the math a little further, and imagine that every man, woman, and child were to be given that $3,200.00 to purchase their own private healthcare insurance to be spent, when needed, on an efficiently run private for profit system. A family of four, for instance, would have nearly $13,000.00 per year to spend on insurance… that’s a thousand bucks a month on health insurance
[...]
Read the Rest 30 seconds

Let's examine animal health care. Believe it or not our pets get better health care than we do! Sure you pay an arm and a leg for it, but think about all the tax you pay! Now think about how much you pay and how much service you receive in return. But Muffin's looking kind of heavy. Now if Muffin were on a "public" animal health care system, there would be a public outcry of her obesity, and how she is a burden on the system etc...

When we have a public health care system I think we do have a right to criticize other people's lifestyles. If we're all paying into, we want to be able to have service when we need it for legitimate, unpreventable sickness and disease. With a private health care system, I think we would be less judgemental of people's lifestyles, actions and only interfere if they affect others instead of when they affect/drain our systems. So until we have a private system, I believe we have a right to bitch all we want about smokers and how obesity will be such an epidemic. Now, are they the ones draining our health care system? Most likely not. Our system isn't a drain because of people's lifestyles, but rather wasted resources.

I really wish Trent didn't get rid of the course entitled "Health Care Economics" I really would like to learn about the finances of our health care system and where the money goes. From what I've learned in other courses is that the US system isn't the most economic either. Believe it or not, the US government actually shell out more money in health care! The US spends more per GDP and per capita than Canada.

This fall I will be taking a 400 level course that will compare Canada and the United States. For my term paper I would love to research the health care systems, even though that will be a huge task! If I get in to a Masters program in the fall of 2007 I desire to do my thesis on some aspect of the health care system in Canada. I despise the rhetoric of lefties at Trent anti-private anything, so perhaps a Masters at Carleton will give me a fresh perspective!

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: Funny Story

Originally written September 9th 2005:

Another funny story, I was in WalMart yesterday with George and we were picking up some deoderant for him to keep at my house. We were looking at the Men's Speed Stick, when we noticed that Old Spice Red Zone was on sale. So we were going to pick it up, but I had to smell it first, (it has to smell good to me before I would buy it). I said outloud before I looked around me, "as long as it doesn't smell like an old man" and at the same time I said that, and older man in his 50s or 60s was coming down the aisle. I quickly recovered by saying to the man, "No offence" with a smile on my face. The man just laughed and said, "None taken."

I remember this event. That was at the old Wal-Mart in Peterborough. The new one opened up in January and this year I will live pretty close to it! Good times with George are always memorable. I love laughing with him. Our silly inside jokes. Feels great to have love in my life.

Blog Format

I've decided to follow a format with my blog. I first got the idea from Nicol over at The War Room.

I love to read, so I will try to keep up with BOOK REVIEWs (at least until school starts up again in Sep).

I would also like to do FLASHBACK FRIDAYS and take an old essay or blog entry of mine (from my livejournal) and republish it, and perhaps comment on it.

I also love quotes, so I think I will also do a QUOTABLE QUOTES section. Take a quote and perhaps comment on it, where I got it, what it means to me etc....

And then of course I will have regular comments of articles or other blogs that I read, as well as, personal updates worth sharing.

BOOK REVIEW: The P.I.G to Women, Sex and Feminism

I heard about this book after reading a column by the author, Carrie Lukas. The column released this past Mother's Day spoke about Universal Child Care in the United States. Her book was listed at the bottom and the title caught my attention, so I checked it out. I loved what I read about it and so I immediately ordered it from Chapters and read it cover to cover in just a couple days!

The book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex and Feminism sums up what I have been thinking, pondering, and contemplating the past few years. I am not a modern feminist. When I say this, I do not mean I do not believe in women's rights or equality for women. I get severely irritated with the left-wing feminist types. Ones that rant and rave and put down marriage, family life, and shove their ideologically agenda down your throat in the classroom, when you pay $5500 to be there, and can't even voice your opinion.

I wasn't always a bitter and jaded anti-feminist. This started long before even my politically beliefs developed to become more conservative. I remember reading in my Sociology 100 textbook, this one sub box dedicated to demonstrating that all this attention is on women and not on men. And it's so true! For example:

We have walks to end violence against women, but it is a fact that men are more likely than women to be murder, assaulted or victims of violent crime. We have million dollar programs from the Ontario government to aid women and children from domestic violence, but what about our men?

We have walks for breast cancer. But it is a fact that the number one cancer that kills males between the ages of 18-35 is testicular cancer. Unfortunately, no one is talking to men about doing self-exams or talking to their doctor.

We have more women than men enrolling and graduating with University degrees. Or have a look at the difference of grades and academic achievements between boys and girls. Girls often always do better in school. But I ask, what it happening to our men? Our boys?

They are being left behind.

Now this has nothing to do with the book, and I have completely stayed off topic on my little anti-feminist rant. I am finished. Onto to the review!

I loved this book! It was divided into 15 chapters and touched on many issues ranging from gender, sex, marriage and family. In her introduction, Lukas makes a distinction between the feminist movements. The "first-wave" movement of the late 19th and early 20th century had goals of women and the right to vote. The "second-wave" movement came in the 1960s and 1970s with the legal and social changes to women to participate more fully in society. This movement also came to reject the traditional family and the introduction of the "liberation" of women. During this period of history also came the changes in attitudes towards pre-marital sex and family structures such as living together before marriage, children out of wedlock and of course, divorce.

The "third-wave" movement of feminism is currently taking place. This movement has grown to become more politically powerful and largely organized with groups such as the National Organization for Women (NOW). The modern feminist movement primarily has a left-wing political stance focusing on socialist ideas like larger governments and social welfare state programs. Lukas delves into the topic of gender, which is a very controversial issue. Many feminist would have you believe that aside from genitalia, there are no differences between men and women because we are socialized in our gender roles. Lukas affirms that we cannot have a gender-neutral world because men and women are fundamentally different. Between hormones and brain chemistry to research studies on the topic, the evidence proves that many differences between men and women are biologically based.

Sex is another issue examined and I found this topic the most interesting. Lukas claims that women lost the sexual revolution. She looks at polls and studies that examine rates of casual sex with how people feel about it afterwards and their perceptions of how often their peers are engaging in it.

Lukas also examines marriage and divorce. Feminists are known to not be fans of marriage. One women’s organizations even have restrictions of their membership: “We have a membership quota: That no more than one-third of our membership can be participants in either a formal (with legal contract) or informal (e.g. living with a man) instance of the institution of marriage” (Lukas 76).

I did a paper on same-sex marriage a month ago and in my research I read a few articles about the feminist perspective on marriage. I guess I have not come to a full comprehension on understand why some feminists are anti-marriage. Marriage is a goal for me, and divorce is not an option unless it is an abusive relationship. In my last year of high school I also did a research project on cohabitation versus marriage.

Lukas’s book touches on all the issues of gender, sex, marriage, divorce and the family are always relevant in our current society. The only criticism I offer is that her editors were kind of sloppy. I noticed they referred to an author as “Appleton” and then on the next page as “Applewhite” and in addition they spelled Jodie Foster’s name incorrectly.

All in all, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex and Feminism was a great read and I would encourage all women to read this book whether you’re a teenager or in your 60s.

First Entry

I've decided to move my blog from livejournal to blogger/blogspot. I was with livejournal for 2.5 years and started to get iritated with format and lack of options etc... I will try blogger out for a little while, and if it turns out I like this better, then this will be my new home.

I will tell you a little about myself. I am 22 years old and I will be starting my 4th year at Trent in the fall. I just registered for my courses, which was a nightmare, but I'm not surprised that the new registration system is screwed up! I like skittles, autumn, blue jeans and mohagoney wood.

I work this summer as a coordinator for an youth exchange program. I'm really enjoying my summer thus far, but I know that I will look forward to moving back to Peterborough to finish my degree!