Some more anti-Conservative ranting....

Interesting Heather Mallick article on rabble this week about the anniversary of the Morgentaler decision. Here are a couple of paragraphs that stood out in my mind, highlighting the usual insidious way in which Conservative MPs try to impose their narrow morality on Canadians (see also their rejection of anti-handgun laws proposed after recent shootings in Toronto):

If you ever yearn for the mucky sensation of sticky fingers crawling down your spine, go to Hansard and read MPs discussing Alberta Tory Ken Epp’s proposed Unborn Victims of Crime Act, due for a House vote in March. The private member's (what an appropriate name) bill means murderers should get a lower prison sentence for killing a regular woman than for killing a pregnant woman. Read them say how nice it is when a pregnant lady lets you feel her belly: "I think we've all experienced that," Epp says.
They call the extra murder "fetal homicide" and it's a cowardly way of introducing the concept that fetuses are people. By extension, there would then exist an elaborate grading system for the value of women's bodies, fetus-containing women being the most valued, old women the least.
This kind of thing is subterranean in Canada but very public in the United States. It's odd because the re-criminalization of abortion seems as retrograde as steam-driven typewriters. In a world where we now debate robotic surgery and human cloning, the war against abortion, and not even RU-486 abortion, uses ancient weapons.
Nevertheless, this week you'll be hearing a lot from the Orwellian Anti-Sex League (Senior Division) about sluttish teenage girls and evil abortion clinics and how disgusting people are who don't follow their pinched hateful rules about sex before marriage or during marriage or ever.

I am Pro-Choice, as most people who know me know, but even Pro-Life women should be opposed to such legislation.

Academy Awards/Sundance Film Festival

The nominations for the Academy Awards were announced this morning, and it looks like a big year for Canadian films, and particularly women in Canadian films. Sarah Polley was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay award for her film Away from Her, a film in which she also directed Best Actress nominee Julie Christie. The adorable Ellen Page who recently starred in Bruce McDonald's The Tracey Fragments, was nominated as Best Actress for her role in Canadian born director Jason Reitman's film Juno. And finally, Viggo Mortensen was nominated for his role in Canadian director David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises.

Meanwhile, a new documentary called Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this week. This film looks into the conviction of Roman Polanski over thirty years ago for having sex with a minor. After his conviction, Polanski fled back to Europe where he has remained since. I remember reading an interesting story about this case in Vanity Fair several years ago, and this documentary also sounds really good.

Quick Post to Say that I am Still Alive!

Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post! Sorry about that - first of all, work has been very busy, second of all, the holidays were busy, and finally, after over five years in the same place, my roommate and I are moving. Ok, so we're only moving about four blocks, but still, it's a big deal!

I will write more soon! Happy New Year to everyone!!