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Post by hibernicus on Mar 16, 2014 23:17:40 GMT
The so-called "feminist performance artists" who showed up at the March for Choice dressed as cabin crew and wheeling luggage to protest against what they see as the outrage of Irish women having to go to Britain for abortions rather than having them here have been in action again, this time hijacking a conference on "Faith and the Irish Diaspora" addressed by the writer Frank Cotterell Boyce. Evidently free speech and good manners are patriarchal relics, just like the Fifth Commandment. Expect further "performances" of this type. paulfdonovan.blogspot.ie/2014/03/frank-cottrell-boyce-sidelined-by-cabin.html
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Post by hibernicus on Apr 15, 2014 8:55:22 GMT
The Trot-front Anti-Austerity Alliance have dumped a local election candidate in Tullamore whom they had already approved because they found out he was "anti-choice". Shows what really takes precedence over "fighting austerity" for these people. According to several posters on this Politics.ie thread the dumped candidate is not even a pro-lifer; he believes abortion should be legal under restricted circumstances. But apparently for these gentry anything less than abortion on demand is anti-woman. www.politics.ie/forum/elections/224572-anti-austerity-alliance-purge-candidate-over-views-abortion.html
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Post by shane on Apr 16, 2014 10:44:24 GMT
Keep this in mind the next time Kitty Holland or the Irish Times lecture pro-lifers for a lack of compassion. @prolifestuff tweeted a link to a very moving story of a father dying of pancreatic cancer. As he obviously won't be able to attend his daughter's real wedding when she eventually gets married, he surprised her on her birthday by walking her down the aisle in a mock-wedding to give her a nice memory to look back on when she's older. Kitty Holland of the Irish Times responded to this tweet in an extremely nasty reply: I brought it to public attention: A lot of people on Twitter were disgusted, including some pro-choice tweeters: She did not apologise or withdraw her tweet, even after people suggested she should. When Caroline McCamley rebuked her: "using this sad story to push your agenda is pathetic", she dismissed her concerns: "puleeze"
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Post by hibernicus on Apr 16, 2014 21:06:40 GMT
As Eilis O'HAnlon suggested in her review of SAVITA, Kitty Holland doesn't do self-examination.
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Post by hibernicus on Apr 25, 2014 18:06:13 GMT
Here's another shout out for those people who used to claim (and may still do so for all I know) that Sinn Fein as the most nationalistic party were the natural ally of pro-lifers. SF candidates in South Down have had to apologise to the Bishop of Dromore for falsely claiming that he agrees with the party's position on abortion. www.prolife.ie/news/2014/04/25/sinn-fein-apologises-misrepresenting-bishop-abortionAs always, I except Deputy Peadar Tobin and those few party members who have protested against SF's pro-abortion line. (Remember, too, that the party is almost single-handedly responsible for keeping the BElfast Marie Stopes clinic open, having whipped their NI Assembly members to use a procedural device to block an attempt to close it which had majority and cross-community support.)
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Post by hibernicus on May 3, 2014 18:25:27 GMT
Just back from the Pro-Life Vigil. Can't really estimate how many were present as I arrived early and so ended up quite close to the stage, but the whole south side of Merrion Square (at least) was filled. Speeches from Cora SHerlock, Caroline Simons, David Manly, two women from post-abortive help groups, and another young woman whose name I forget acting as MC. Ronan Mullin and Terence Flanagan in the crowd. Caroline Simons mentioned a Polish contingent, which is worth noting. I saw several people of Indian/South Asian appearance (one on the stage) and at least one Filipina. Their support is worth the same as anyone else's, neither more or less, but I record it here as the pro-choicers will be busy spinning the "pro-lifers are evil fascists and racists" slogan on their social media. Caroline Simons predicted the "regulations" governing the abortion legislation are being held back until this month's elections are over. We'll see. Great video on media bias was shown, available at link below hearbothsides.ie/ Saw two habited Dominicans and one Franciscan, several priests and nuns and some seminarians. Special dishonourable mention to the loon who handed me a ballad explaining how our abortion legislation is all part of the deep-laid plot by the secret nazis who supposedly run the Global World Order and "martyred" John F Kennedy. Another great example of looking for hidden conspiratorial messages in the crossword clues while ignoring the atrocities being publicised and defended in the headlines and editorial pages. This sort of nuttiness we can do without.
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Post by shane on May 3, 2014 19:57:42 GMT
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Post by maolsheachlann on May 4, 2014 16:02:26 GMT
One wonders how much of a difference they make. You'd hardly know it was happening unless you were in Merrion Square. And, of course, the Irish media barely features them. Would smaller demonstrations spread throughout the city be a better idea? Admittedly this would open demonstrators to unpleasantness from pro-abortion people.
Of course, the fact that it reminds pro-life people that there are so many others on their side is one good thing.
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Post by hibernicus on May 4, 2014 19:53:56 GMT
The IRISH TIMES website did have a fairly accurate summary of the proceedings - though they chose to illustrate it with a photo of four elderly people labelled "A section of the crowd at the pro-life demonstration". Of course the picture was carefully chosen to imply it was mostly elderly people who turned out. This was not the case, though there were quite a few elderly people. My most noticeable impression was that it was primarily provincial and working-class. I don't think a number of small demonstrations would work, because they would as you say be more easily harassed by pro-choicers of the sort who turn out to harrass the March for Life, and because it would not fulfil one important function,which is to make local pro-lifers feel they are not isolated and alone. The big problem is that the politicians are not afraid because they feel they have done their worst and pro-lifers have no-one effective to vote for. IN my summary of proceedings I should have mentioned that the MC is called Wendy Kehoe and that they also showed this video on "perinatal hospice" care for babies born with genetic conditions which mean they will only live a short time: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY7mq1g9pGk
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Post by Young Ireland on May 5, 2014 19:27:30 GMT
To be honest, I partially agree with Maolsheachlann's point in that I do think there should be more regional rallies for pro-life people, considering that many pro-lifers live far away from the capital, and I do think that the pro-life movement at the moment is a bit Dublin-centric, though I do admit that this is unavoidable to some extent, given the capital's dominance. That said, I also agree with Hibernicus' concerns about attacks from opponents.
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2014 19:37:21 GMT
How annoying. I got an email about the Vigil a day or two before it happened. I ended up forgetting about it and not going. To be fair Maolsheachlann, the only reason I remembered it was because RTE was on when I was having dinner, and that's when the Vigil got a mention. I don't think they gave it too much time, but they did at least acknowledge it.
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Post by hibernicus on Aug 28, 2014 10:56:32 GMT
Politics.ie thread on the "pro-choice" demonstration last weekend. As usual with Politics.ie threads, it rapidly descends into namecalling, but the first page is noteworthy because it describes how one of the speakers (quoted at length) proclaimed that men are not entitled to have an opinion on abortion (even those who agree with her) and only women should speak on it. (The insinuation is that all women are "pro-choice" and pro-life women don't exist or are not really women.) If a pro-life speaker had called for a sizable proportion of the population to be disfranchised, we'd never hear the end of it. Incidentally, the speaker (who is black) attributed Savita's death to racism. This is a real piece of witch-hunting equating being pro-life with racism; I wonder what she would say to the New Irish speakers and activists I have seen at pro-life rallies in Dublin (see posts describing these rallies earlier on this thread). www.politics.ie/forum/culture-community/229243-yesterdays-pro-abortion-rally-men-should-know-their-place.htmlBTW note that one of the other speakers was a Sinn Fein activist who claims to be speaking on behalf of the whole party: EXTRACT Stephanie Lord of Sinn Féin said: "We are a movement aiming to eradicate gender inequality, so that also involves being self-critical and not replicating the oppression of dominant political structures where men consistently make decisions regarding women's reproductive choices. "However, we do recognise that transgender men and people outside the gender binary may also experience pregnancy. This is their campaign too." END Yet another reminder that those people who at the last election said that pro-lifers should vote Sinn Fein because of their nationalism and Euro-scepticism are away with the fairies. Sinn Fein has a vigorous women's section which has been campaigning to legalise abortion in the Republic at least since the early 1990s (and I have spoken to someone who recalls abortion information phone numbers being displayed publicly at the Sinn Fein HQ in Cork in the late 1980s and early 1990s, on one occasion in their main window and surrounded by pictures of the 1916 leaders!) Add to that the way that the Sinn Fein members of the Northern IReland Assembly vetoed the attempt to close down the Marie Stopes abortion clinic and the fact that Sinn Fein not only supported the misnamed Protection of Life in Pregnancy Bill but the more radical bill introduced by the far-left TDs, and that both in the Dail and the Northern IReland Assembly SF have opposed free votes and imposed the whip on their deputies, and it is very clear that Sinn Fein are not our friends. If someone wants to vote for SF because of their ultra-nationalist rhetoric (which is utterly untrustworthy IMHO; they will do whatever suits them when it suits them, and impose it with military-style discipline) on their own head be it; but let them not fool themselves into thinking that they are voting pro-life. I except of course Deputy Peadar Toibin, who has proved his sincerity the hard way, and the half-dozen or so Northern activists who published a protest letter against the party's stance.
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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Aug 28, 2014 13:59:07 GMT
The phrase about straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel comes to mind when I consider the pro-lifers who are willing to imbibe every drop Sinn Féin pours. These people will criticise others for links to Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil for pussyfooting on abortion, but accept everything that SF throws blindly, in the face of overwhelming evidence cited by Hibernicus.
More to the point, one cannot rely on what SF has to say on the various national issues or EU membership, which seems to inspire the calls for pro-lifers to vote for Sinn Féin. I don't understand the lack of criticism of the party's policies, which is socially liberal to any degree imaginable. But it seems to me that SF's objective these days is to achieve and maintain power, no matter how. Trouble is being a pro-lifer isn't a vehicle into power right now.
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