Angry Sunday Post

Women and teenage girls urged to get morning after pill in advance for Christmas

Teenage girls and women will be able to get the morning after pill in advance over Christmas from a chain of abortion clinics.

Bpas, formerly the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, is urging them to stock up in advance because many pharmacies and GP surgeries will be closed, making it harder to get emergency contraception in time for it to be effective.

They suggest women should keep an emergency pill in their cupboard over the holiday period in case they need it.

Campaigners said it was a 'despicable ploy’ by the charity, which performs abortions under contract for the NHS, to drum up business and promotes promiscuity.

The charity is issuing free kits containing one dose of the morning after pill, condoms and information leaflets to women who want one after a face to face consultation in one of their clinics.

Girls under the age of 16 will be given the kits if the doctor believes they are capable of making decisions about their health on their own, in line with Government guidelines.

No doubt this will have the pro coat-hanger brigade frothing at the mouth

looks like I was right

John Smeaton, national director at the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: “It is revealing that BPAS’s Christmas pack contains 'a leaflet explaining what their options are in case the pill doesn’t work’ and 'a leaflet giving information on BPAS online sexual health services’. This proves that BPAS’s free giveaway is a thinly-disguised attempt by BPAS to drum up more abortion business in the new year.

“It is a despicable ploy which threatens unborn children, promotes promiscuity, endangers public health and insults the child-centred meaning of Christmas.

“This style of promoting the morning-after pill will have an adverse effect on many young and vulnerable women. It will encourage men to see females as sex objects, who can be exploited without responsibility for the consequences.”

Notice how they called it the 'abortion business' like somehow money is made out of it, what crock, they have this bizarre belief that women get abortion at a drop of a hat. They are anti women, they don't want women to be in control of their bodies, they don't want women to be able to make decisions for themseleves.

Well boo fucking hoo, BPAS ran over your 'Christian sensibilities', get over it. When you start falling back on the bible to defend your position, then you've lost the argument.

The patriarchy, we're drowning in it.

Friday Cat Blogging


George rubbing his chin against the sugar puff cereal box


George the eco-cat, sitting on top of our recycling boxes


Mlle Heidi enjoying the comfy sofa


Just takin' it easy

Friday Music Blogging

Daft Punk - Burnin'



808 State - Pacific State



Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss a Beat



My guilty pleasure:

The Saturdays - Up

Friday Cat Blogging


Gorgeous George


Heidi chilling out on the new sofa

Friday Cat Blogging


Mlle Heidi






George cleaning his gorgeous coat

Furniture Pr0n

Chez Moonbotica today got a new sofa suite and its very comfy








Heidi approves of it

Friday Cat Blogging


George hunting for food




Heidi loves radiator

US Election 2008

Obama wins historic US election

Democratic Senator Barack Obama has been elected the first black president of the United States, prompting celebrations across the country.

"It's been a long time coming, but tonight... change has come to America," the president-elect told a jubilant crowd at a victory rally in Chicago.

His rival John McCain accepted defeat, and called on his supporters to lend the next president their goodwill.

This reminds me of the Tony Blair moment in 1997

Maybe Obama turns out differently, maybe he won't, we shall just have to wait and see.

I mean when Blair got into power the UK was tired of 18 yrs of Tory rule, Blair looked fresh and new and made vague promises and did lots of smiling and look how he and Labour turned out - illegal invasions, excessive micromanaging, authortarian legislation, PFI, scrapping the 10p tax, letting the uber rich get away with everything, the list is quite long

So I am happy that Obama was elected but also cautious.

Obama Wins


Photograph: Stan Honda/AFP

Barack Obama to be America's first black president

John McCain praises rival in concession speech as record numbers turn out to vote in historic election

Americans placed their faith in Barack Obama today, overcoming a past of slavery and segregation, and electing the first African-American to the US presidency.

At Obama's election party in Chicago, there were raucous celebration and tears of joy as the US TV networks just after 11pm ET (4am GMT) declared that the Democratic candidate had been voted America's 44th president.

He was carried across the threshold by epic voter turnout across the country, giving him a wider margin over John McCain than any other president in the last two decades.

Obama, accompanied to the podium in his home town of Chicago by his wife Michelle and his two daughters, alluded to the historic nature of his victory.

Truly wonderful.

Blog Reactions

The furnace of American mythology

The Election of Barack Obama by Chris Floyd

President Obama: get your disillusionment while it’s hot

Cairo Photo Blogging 8

If you want a break from all that US election coverage, enjoy some more photos from my Cairo holiday


Mum at the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement HQ










One of the minarets of the Mamluk Mosque

American Election Day 2008


Photograph: Tim Sloan/AFP

US voters queue to elect president

An election day of unprecedented engagement in the longest presidential campaign in US history brought exhausting queues and a handful of reported voting problems in polling stations across America.

Conscious of the delays caused by an expected record turnout, voters in several US states began queuing up to make their choice before the sun rose. In some areas of Virginia lines were forming from 4am, two hours before the polls opened.

The Election Protection Coalition, an alliance of several voting-rights groups, collected reports of scattered difficulties at polling stations across the US. Tales of broken ballot scanners and touch-screen voting machines were particularly notable in the swing states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

In Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana, legal skirmishes erupted over the method of counting provisional and absentee ballots, which could determine the margin of victory if the race remains close into the night.

America votes in historic election

Voters across the United States are flocking to polling stations to choose a new president.

Republican John McCain is attempting to defy the opinion polls, while Democrat Barack Obama is seeking to become the country's first black president.

Mr Obama and Mr McCain voted in their respective home cities of Chicago, Illinois, and Phoenix, Arizona.

Several key states are reporting a heavy turnout. A total of 130 million Americans are expected to vote.

If that figure is confirmed, turnout will be higher than in any election since 1960. About 29 million have voted early.

For a more sober take on this election by Chris Floyd - Failed States: America and Iraq, Rotted by War Crime or anything by Arthur Silber

To keep perspective Eschaton is the place to be.

A rather good concise post from Ken MacLeod

I don't expect anything radical to happen if Obama is elected, he is just as much a part of the system as his opponent McCain, only his campaign was better run but I appreciate that for many Americans after the horror of the Bush years it seems some sort of change, what change, well we'll just have to see.

Monday Ballet Blogging

Alina Cojocaru dancing the Rose Adagio from Act 1 of the Royal Ballet's 2006 production of The Sleeping Beauty.

Part 1


Part 2

The 2008 American Election


image taken from the BBC

McCain and Obama embark on last-ditch tours of swing states

John McCain will visit seven key cities today while presidential rival Barack Obama travels to three battleground states

On the last full day of campaigning, the candidates for the US presidency are making a mad dash across the country in an effort to energise their supporters and win over undecided voters.

John McCain, the Republican nominee, is visiting seven cities in seven states - including his home state of Arizona, in a reflection of his lagging position in the polls. Barack Obama's schedule is lighter only by comparison: the Democrat is visiting three tough battleground states where polls show him ahead but too close for comfort.

McCain is fighting in part for the roughly 4-9% of the electorate who polls show still have not chosen a candidate, even as the presidential campaign nears two years old.

Tomorrow the American voters go to the polls and bring this lengthy election contest to a close.

Obama is no radical and don’t expect any change foreign policy wise straight away, The nakedly aggressive policy of the Bush (Mis)administration will be replaced by the familiar velvet chain mail glove, progressives and those of the left are bound to be disappointed. But even a minor change can be good, a McCain administration would be a lot more worse, a continuation and escalation of the Bush years led by a old man who might die anytime and the possibility of that happening may led to the country being led by a raving right wing fundamentalist like Sarah Palin, which would not be a nice prospect.

At a time when apathy towards politicans, politics and elections is a common feature here,. I spend far too much of my time at an American political blog, Eschaton, and I’ve never heard so much excitement and engagements in the political process from the commentators who post there.

The legacy of the Bush Junta is awful, a bottomless pit of despair that is Iraq, misery in Afghanistan, torture and rendition, Guantanamo Bay, human rights abuses . In America itself there was the inability to rescue a fine city like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and most recently the Subprime crisis.

Cairo Photo Blogging 7


Artsy nighttime photos, using the night option on my Nikon D40x, its supposed to be used on a tripod but as you can see without it, the effect is quite blurry, hence the artsy tag


one of the many hotels which cater for international guests


The Four Seasons Hotel


Evening settling on Cairo


Another view of the Mohamed Ali Pasha Mosque


A close up of the domes


Cairo vista








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