Monday, May 15, 2006

Maurice Vellacott - unplugged

First, a little recap.
Remember that bizarre non-apology Maurice "unplugged" Vellacott gave when forced to resign the post Harper gave him as Chair of the Commons Aboriginal Affairs Committee? He had made shit up, attributed it to a Chief Justice when in fact she said the opposite of what he claimed, and then resigned with a statement which included an entirely unrelated reference to his right to "defend women and the rights of the preborn".

On Wednesday, there he was defending women again - this time holding a press conference with American anti-abortion activist and breast surgeon Angela Lanfranchi, whom he had invited up to Canada to inform us there has been a 40-per-cent increase in the incidence of breast cancer in the last 30 years.

Angela Lanfranchi :
"It's the women of the Roe v. Wade generation that account for most of this increase. Dramatic lifestyle changes brought about by the sexual revolution and the women's liberation movement are largely responsible for the rampant breast cancer we see today."

So, according to Lanfranchi, breast cancer is caused by abortions which are caused by feminism - a theory also also known as 'it's your own fault, bitches'.
Lanfranchi was referring to the "research" of born-again anti-abortionist Dr. Joel Brind, discounted ten years ago by the National Cancer Institute in the United States, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (and their U.S. counterparts), as well as the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Breast Cancer Network, as being entirely without merit.

OK, we're up to speed now.
Undeterred by this refutation from their colleagues, Brind and Lanfranchi have launched a website called "Breast Cancer Prevention Institute". The home page states their mission :
"Our website is dedicated to providing the most up-to-date and accurate information to medical professionals and the general public on how to prevent breast cancer. Our on-line publications, as well as our list of other resources, are all designed to provide you with knowledge of practical, risk-reduction strategies."

Mostly consisting of abstinence and the rhythm method.

But then rather puzzlingly, after an ad for a fundraiser for the site, the entire rest of the main page - and I mean the whole rest of the main page here - is devoted to a plea from Dr Joel Brind to help prevent the passing of anti-lobby legislation currently before the US Congress. He urges the reader to visit www.lobbysense.com to see what you can do about it. So I did.

LobbySense states that free speech and the rights of lobbyists are at risk if this legislation requires them to have to register as, you know, lobbyists.

LobbySense is outraged that Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska is supporting this anti-free speech legislation after all the help they have given him in his bid to open up Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling :
"In the ultimate attack of irony, just yesterday, a coalition of organizations (some of whom are members of the LobbySense coalition) sent a comprehensive letter to House and Senate leadership outlining reasons to open ANWR to drilling."
Later on the same page they report that Senator Stevens has come around to their way of thinking.

LobbySense lists its members : Grover Norquist, Paul Weyrich of "Coalitions for America", Gary Bauer of "American Values", Phyllis Schlafly of "Eagle Forum", and a dozen other high profile right-wing life-hating assholes.

Last week, Vellacott countered a rebuke for lying about a chief justice with some completely unrelated codswallop about his mandate from his sky monster (TM - Dave's Random Gibberish) and the rights of the preborn. I can hardly wait to hear what grand non sequitur he will use to defend his right to be duped by a front group for rightwing American extremists.

When LobbySense member Grover Norquist famously quipped, "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub", he made no provision not to throw the baby Jesus out with the bathwater.
Vellacott might want to think about that.
.

4 comments:

RossK said...

Are you suggesting that Mr. Vellacott has been in the past, or will be someday in the near or distant future, been caught thinking?

All snark aside, this kind of vile astroturfing must be exposed for what it is, over and over and over again. Otherwise this obfustacotory untruthiness will destroy any and all things evidence-based that doesn't fit the radical anti-reality agenda of these people.

Rev.Paperboy said...

If only someone would drown Grover Nordquist in his own metaphorical bathtub.

Alison said...

You wish, rev, is my command.

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite (if you could use that word) moments after Katrina was when I heard that a truck with a huge sign with a photo of flooded New Orleans was parked outside Norquist's office, with that bathtub quote on it in huge letters. Grrr.

Meanwhile -- I'm stunned to see such a blatant example of the lobbyists using women as pawns to further their own agenda. It's always been done, but this is the first time I've seen it done so out-in-the-open and brazenly. Gah, these people are monsters.

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