Sunday, February 19, 2012


Sexism is alive and well in Canada

It has even filtered into the hard sciences. The following is the text of a flier recently passed on to me. Even the huge IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) has succumbed to the "new paradigm", apparently

The First Women's Workshop on Communications and Signal Processing

Banff International Research Station
July 13-15, 2012
Registration: $150

The First Women's Workshop on Communications and Signal Processing will be held at the beautiful Banff International Research Station http://www.birs.ca/ July 13-July 1

The workshop will have a poster session, panels and technical presentations from the speakers listed below:

• Sonia Assia, Universite de Quebec
• Pamela Cosman, University of California, San Diego
• Sheila Hemami, Cornell University
• Shalinee Kishore, Lehigh University
• Urbashi Mitra, University of Southern California
• Anna Scaglione, University of California, Davis
• Milica Stojanovic, Northeastern University
• Sirin Tekinay, Consultant, Istanbul, Turkey
• Sarah Kate Wilson, Santa Clara University
• Sally Wood, Santa Clara University

Space is limited at this workshop. Limited travel grants are available. To apply for the workshop and travel grants, please send the following information to

skwilson@scu.edu:

1. A two-page abstract of the poster
2. Your CV
3. Two references
4. Please put Women's Worskhop in the Subject Header

Accommodation at the Banff International Research Station for up to 25 participants at this 2-day workshop is free. The registration fee for the workshop will be 150 U.S. Dollars.





Just what you want to hear: Planned Parenthood works around the clock to hook your kids on sex

Recently, American Life League came out with a six-minute exposĂ© of Planned Parenthood that was so appalling that I would have had a hard time believing it was true had it not been about Planned Parenthood. The video included clips and images from PP educational materials — cartoons and the like — and the gist of the clips was that teens should learn to pleasure themselves and each other as soon as possible.

At the time, I was so disgusted that I couldn’t bring myself to post it. Now, I wish I had. Because of a copyright claim, YouTube pulled the video. No worries, though: You can read more about its contents here. As the smallest of samplings, here’s a screenshot:



The cartoon above speaks for itself.

The point of the ALL’s video was simple: Planned Parenthood has a vested interest in hooking the next generation on sex. They’re in the abortion business. They depend upon unwanted pregnancies to stay in business. They know no unwanted pregnancy occurs without sex, so they encourage sex — albeit “safe” sex.

Over at BuzzFeed, BigRedH mocks the American Life League for its concern, writing, “Yes, this is both real and terrible. How dare Planned Parenthood try to educate people?” But pamphlets, coloring books, mascots, banners, outrageously-shaped lollipops … These aren’t the hallmarks of education. They’re the hallmarks of marketing. Fortunately for Planned Parenthood, the product they’re marketing is the easiest in the world to sell — and, when teens buy it and then have need of other products (a.k.a. contraceptives, STD testing, abortions), Planned Parenthood cashes in.

It sounds extreme, but, in the end, isn’t that the foundational idea of Planned Parenthood — that customers should be able to have sex without consequences, unless those “consequences” are “planned”?

If it all still sounds like a stretch to you, consider Planned Parenthood’s latest effort to meet teens where they are:
Whether they are texting high school students, lecturing in public schools, or coaxing students to their cringeworthy “Teen Information” website, Planned Parenthood relentlessly tries to appeal to the nation’s youth. Their most recent attempt is the newly-launched “HeyPP!” Twitter account. The page is meant to reach teenagers with sexual health information[.]

Sexual health information like, oh, how to have a conversation with your boyfriend about using a condom, how to know when the time is “right” to have sex or how to know if you’re a “cheater” (hint: it depends on your particular relationship’s rules).

The good news is, teens are unimpressed:
Planned Parenthood’s reputation is fading in popularity as quickly as their choice of words. (Another HeyPP tweet reads, “Sounds like a solid plan!” I’m still watching for the word “groovy.”) Planned Parenthood has been exposed for lying, failing to report statutory rape, and not only concealing, but aiding in the sex trafficking of minors.

But it isn’t only Planned Parenthood that has a dwindling reputation among teens. Abortion as a whole is becoming increasingly unpopular with our nation’s youth. Unlike generations before, today’s teens are a part of what can be called the “refrigerator generation.” Unborn children are not an abstract “blob of tissue” to us, as we have grown up seeing ultrasound images of our unborn brothers, sisters, and cousins on our refrigerator doors. Combine this with an increase in pro-life activism, and it makes sense that more of our generation reports to be pro-life than pro-choice.

Abortion and Planned Parenthood are losing popularity among youth, and no excessive use of the words “like” and “totally” is going to change that.

It’s irritating — and a little insulting to the intelligence — that the “experts” at Planned Parenthood really think teens need help figuring out how to follow their natural urges.

But what angers me most about Planned Parenthood’s perpetual attempts to perpetuate knowledge about every last perversion that plagues the human race is that it robs marriage and sex of mystery and romance. If everybody’s business is everybody’s business, then nothing is private. How ironic that the “right to privacy” has made public in a huge way what was once between just two people.

Incidentally, what evidence we have still suggests it’s better when people keep it to themselves. Let’s please bring back the conversational taboo; surely sex was more exciting that way.

SOURCE





Incredulity among British police over politically-correct poetry contest

It's enough to make the hard men of the Sweeney choke on their cigars and double whiskies. Scotland Yard officers have been asked to enter a poetry competition on the theme of ‘gender equality’.

The prize is a chance to have ‘elevenses’ with the Met’s [black] head of diversity Denise Milani, who is renowned in Britain’s biggest police force for her touchy-feely initiatives.

Officers are told their poems must focus on ‘recruitment, retention or progression’ at the Yard, creating a ‘gender-sensitive working environment’ or ‘successfully managing gender-diverse teams’. They must also provide Miss Milani, 54, with insight on the progress made with the ‘Gender Agenda’ from a male or female perspective and suggest a ‘positive vision’ for the Met.

Details of the extraordinary competition were leaked to the Police Inspector blog, prompting a furious reaction from serving officers who accused the Met of wasting taxpayers’ money.

Inspector Gadget, the anonymous author of the blog, wrote: ‘I can categorically say that this is the maddest diversity nonsense we have ever featured. ‘I would like to hear from more female officers to see what they think of this, in between making tea for the lads of course!’

Within minutes of his posting, Inspector Gadget was inundated with examples of possible entries, some of which were obscene.

Another outraged policeman said: ‘Now that this is in the public domain, can a member of the public write a letter of complaint to BHH (Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe) about this scandalous waste of their taxes?’.

On the force’s internal Intranet, officers and civilian staff are urged to ‘get creative’ in the run-up to the event.

Miss Milani, the daughter of West Indian migrants, originally qualified as a teacher and joined the Met in 1999. She is believed to be paid more than £80,000 a year, although Scotland Yard refuses to reveal her exact salary.

Despite a cost-cutting campaign at the Yard, her position as Director of the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate appears safe. The directorate promotes the recognition of the Met’s minority employees – dealing with gender, disability, sexual orientation, age and faith as well as race. It has a total of 36 staff.

In 2008, the Mail revealed how Miss Milani had urged Met staff to ‘celebrate’ the contribution of Roma gipsies to ‘London’s culture and diversity’.

The Yard said: ‘The Metropolitan Police polices one of the most diverse cities in Europe and is the biggest single employer in London. ‘It can only succeed by recognising and responding to the needs of the varied communities and workforce it serves and the DCFD plays a key role by providing specialist knowledge and strategic diversity guidance across the organisation.’

SOURCE





British Councils are given back right to pray at meetings as Eric Pickles signs an order to protect the ancient tradition

Town hall chiefs have been handed the power to hold prayers at the start of council meetings in defiance of the courts. Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles yesterday signed an order giving local authorities the right to maintain the centuries-old tradition.

He stepped in after the High Court last week backed a controversial campaign to abolish acts of worship during town hall meetings.

Christians and politicians reacted with dismay after a judge banned a council in Devon from putting prayers on the formal agenda. Atheist former councillor Clive Bone started the case against Bideford Town Council in July 2010, claiming he had been ‘disadvantaged and embarrassed’ when prayers were recited.

However, Mr Pickles signed a Parliamentary Order yesterday that should render the judgment irrelevant and protect the freedom for councils to pray. He said the Government’s Localism Act allows councils to do anything an individual can unless specifically prohibited by law.

The right to pray can be exercised by major local authorities in England from today, and by parish councils by the end of March.

Mr Pickles said reversing the ‘illiberal ruling’ was a victory for ‘localism over central interference’ and ‘freedom to worship over intolerant secularism’.

Prime Minister David Cameron has urged people to remember that the UK is a Christian nation and Tory Party Chairman Sayeeda Warsi gave a speech at the Vatican this week saying Europe should speak up for Christianity. The Queen also voiced her most outspoken and personal defence of faith this week.

The intervention is also part of a simmering row between politicians and the judiciary over so-called ‘judicial activism’.

Ministers have grown increasingly frustrated by judges over interpreting the law to deliver verdicts which are widely regarded as lacking common sense. Judges are widely accused of seeking to make law themselves in areas like human rights legislation.

SOURCE

*************************

Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of other countries. The only real difference, however, is how much power they have. In America, their power is limited by democracy. To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges. They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did: None. So look to the colleges to see what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way. It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN (Note that EYE ON BRITAIN has regular posts on the reality of socialized medicine). My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here. For readers in China or for times when blogger.com is playing up, there is a mirror of this site here.

***************************

No comments: