Listen asshole, if you are going to post your garbage to a French language NG then do it in French and stop acting like an arrogant anglophone white guy. <robertpeffers@aol.com> wrote in message news:5292ab78-04d4-432b-89e6-3b8cef931b75@t47g2000hsc.googlegroups.com... > Hockey wives and abortion > > Senators spouses charity gift routed to anti-abortion group > > by Heather Mallick > December 4, 2007 > > I hate picking on women. We're born at a disadvantage and in our wild > flailing to stay afloat, we make such easy targets. But really, do the > wives and girlfriends of the Ottawa Senators have to dress up in > matching pink team sweaters and call their ad hoc union "The Better > Halves?" > > It's bad enough that these women have hooked up with bruised artist- > athletes with careers of inevitably brief span, sold by hockey > corporations as if they were cans of Spam, shipped around the > continent without notice, thus dooming their wives' careers from the > start. But must The Better Halves bully young pregnant women during > their own brush with greatness? I'd like to ask the nice ladies about > this, but these shy creatures are as hard to track down as the tiny, > near-extinct, muntjac deer. > > The Better Half way > > The Better Halves are giving a third of the proceeds of this year's > $50,000 Christmas Tree raffle to First Place Pregnancy Centre, an > Ottawa anti-abortion group run by Pentecostal Christians. > > Planned Parenthood Ottawa is upset, in its customary polite way, and > sent out a press release protesting charity money going to a group > that is not what people might think it is. > > Here's the context: There are thousands of these centres across North > America. They're known in the business as CPCs, as they usually have > names resembling Crisis Pregnancy Centre. They have cute websites > designed to appeal to teenage girls, lots of advice about boys -- > giggle -- and sites on MySpace. They take great care to look like > kindly counselling centres. In fact, they exist solely to prevent > abortion. > > Planned Parenthood told me it frequently talks to women who went to > these apparently welcoming places for counselling on the three options > -- abortion, adoption and parenting. The group says women report > feeling badly treated. > > Charity's rewards > > The problem is worse than just some hockey fans inadvertently donating > to a cause they may oppose -- that is a personal issue between a fan > and her team (in my case, the Canadiens). What irks is that our tax > dollars are involved. > > The raffle money is channelled through the Sens Foundation, the team's > registered charity arm, which is matching every dollar raised by The > Better Halves. > > Not only does the foundation, which normally does good -- make that > wonderful -- things appear to be breaking Revenue Canada's rules for > charities, it is breaking its own rules. > > Both the taxman and the foundation agree that donations can only > support registered charities. They can't support "political or lobby" > or "advocacy or special interest groups." And they shouldn't. > > As a pro-choice woman, I write and speak about abortion rights and > donate money. But I don't get a tax break and would ridicule the > suggestion. Half the joy of activism is its utter lack of reward. The > other half is the cold rain leaking down your spine and into your > cold, sodden jeans at a demonstration on a wet Wednesday on the > Legislature's muddy lawn. There's no life like it. > > First Place link lesson > > I had an initially cheerful phone interview with Sens Foundation > president Dave Ready, who said the Better Halves, when asked to choose > three charities, chose: > > > * First Place. > * Kids Help Phone. > * Harmony House (a women's shelter). > > First Place was "in line with our mandate," he said. "We did due > diligence and checked that it's a charity." > "You went to the website?" I asked. > > "Yes." > > "Did you check on the links?" > > "No." > > We went through the First Place site links together. There's a > standard disclaimer but First Place hopes we'll find them "helpful." I > told Ready that some of the news headlines appeared to be libellous, > particularly the ones linking corporations that make birth control > drugs to the Jewish Holocaust and one drug itself to Nazi death camps. > Others were grotesque: "One baby in 30 left alive after medical > abortion" turns out to be an absurd, unsubstantiated anonymous "news > story" in a British entertainment magazine. > > You're also guided to a donation page for the American Life League, a > hardline group based outside Washington. There's a shop, admittedly > very funny, that sells "Abortion is mean" T-shirts for two-year-olds. > > They offer booklets explaining that abortion is wrong even in the case > of incest. They tell members to scare away raped children outside > abortion clinics. They call RU-486 "the anti-human pesticide." They > offer sample letters to the editor to send to outlets that employ, I > imagine, columnists like me. One begins: "Planned Parenthood is not 'a > good guy.'" > > Ready gets more and more quiet as we track this. Soon he is desperate > to get off the phone. He will not let me talk to a Better Half, who > might well explain that she hadn't known that First Place is financed > by the Bethel Pentecostal Church in Ottawa and its mission -- declared > on the Bethel website but nowhere on the First Place site -- is not > just anti-abortion but anti-birth control. > > Who says what > > Revenue Canada tells me that First Place is not a registered charity. > > Terri Mazik, executive director of First Place, sent out a press > release attacking "our colleagues at Planned Parenthood" for their > press release. She says First Place makes its position clear by saying > it doesn't do "abortion referrals," ignoring the fact that no one > does. Referrals aren't necessary; all anyone needs is to be guided to > a phone book. > > Her website and her press release are full of fact-concealing cotton > puffery. But why conceal them? This is Canada. Say what you want, but > on your own dime. > > I don't know how the Sens Foundation got itself into this mess, which > will surely lead to some hard questions from Revenue Canada. > > CBC TV is about to show a new soap/drama series similar to Britain's > notorious Footballers' Wives, called MVP. It's about the women known > as -- sorry -- "puck bunnies." > > Were the Better Halves abortion hardliners or innocent bunnies when > they offered their money to this weird organization? Does the Sens > Foundation's "due diligence" include Google searches? > > This whole matter is a soap opera, and I expect the Foundation and > Revenue Canada to call a halt. But, unlike in a soap opera, everyone > came out of this with real damage: the Better Halves, the Sens > Foundation and its wonderful Roger's House for dying children, the > unaware raffle ticket buyers, Kids Help Phone, Harmony House and most > of all, the confused, friendless young women who may want to consider > the option of abortion but are going to be lied to and maybe bullied > out of it. > > This Week > > I saw Neil Young for the first time, in concert at Toronto's Massey > Hall. In an extraordinary display of ethics, an e-mail friend of mine > named Andy Strote gave me at cost a ticket he'd found. I sat among > fans who had paid thousands per seat. Neil Young fans are like their > idol; they're rock 'n' roll purists. > > Young hadn't played Massey Hall for 36 years and the concert was > inspired. Two years after the aneurysm that nearly finished him off, > this stylish slob, this beautiful mess of a guy, sang in that thin > voice that we know by heart and yes, it was far, far beyond beauteous > and good. > > Editor's note: Ms. Mallick clearly states that Revenue Canada told her > First Place is not a registered charity. Links on the website's > donation section show that it operates under a different name as a > registered charity: Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Ottawa, registered as > number 890251382RR0001.