30 December 2010. A Funny Thing Happened at the Pitch Today… Russian Sport in Images

“Walruses” in Vladivostok

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No… she’s not a sniper… she’s holding a retired army AK assault rifle converted into a laser tag gun in Rostov-on-Don

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“Walrus” in Krasnoyarsk

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Russia vs Croatia at the European Women’s Handball Championship

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“Walruses” in Budapest in Hungary hanging out at an outdoor heated pool playing chess. Now, here’s a question… did the Magyars need the example of the Russian “walruses” to enjoy such winter fun, or, were the Happy Hunkies always kinda an insane lot (just like we Russians, after all)? I sorta think that it’s the latter…

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Viktor Kneib of Russian team at World Luge Championship in Calgary AB Canada

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“Walruses” in Shenyang in China… it’s right next-door to Russia, so, there’s a lot of overlap in custom as well as climate

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Fr Vsevolod Chaplin thinks that the State shouldn’t be Involved in Providing Abortions

Doctors should have the right to refuse to take part in induced abortions, and the government and society need to work out effective measures to look after mothers and their children…

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Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the MP Synodal Division for Church and Public Relations, called for effective measures against abortion and in favour of mothers and their children in Russia. “We should consider measures aimed at eliminating state involvement in promoting and performing abortions, and we shouldn’t spend taxpayers’ money on this sort of thing”, he said in reply to letters sent to Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev concerning the problem of abortion. In his view, medical institutions shouldn’t encourage abortion, and all healthcare personnel, especially doctors, “should have the right to refuse to take part in induced abortions. Doctors and nurses who are state employees shouldn’t encourage mothers to have an abortion, especially for age, social, or financial reasons. In cases where there’s a threat to the life or health of the woman, it’s necessary to prove and verify this through expert medical opinions from several physicians”. Fr Vsevolod believed that it’s necessary to get out the truth about abortion “by using the mass media, cultural outlets, public services, teachers, psychologists, clergymen, and women who had abortions and regret having killed their unborn babies. Certainly, we should denounce those who voluntarily deny children the right to life, but we must remember that women often resort to abortion through dire necessity. This fact mandates that state and society work out effective measures to care for mothers and children, including provisions for financial aid”.

He noted that in Russia and other CIS countries, “There are millions of abortions, including those done with non-surgical methods, which do aim, in fact, at killing the foetus in the womb. The origins of this horrific situation lie in our recent past. In post-revolutionary Russia, for the first time, abortion was legalised. This measure was presented as a triumph of freedom, as it allegedly allowed women to choose to follow a career [rather than being mothers]; in fact, it deprived them of their right to a normal family and the God-given joy of motherhood”. He went on to say, because of “this vicious practice of infanticide, our population suffered huge losses. The number of unborn children that were victims of abortion is much greater than the number of soldiers killed in all the wars of the twentieth century. Today, we can’t talk about a revival of our people, if we don’t change society’s attitude to abortion”.

30 December 2010

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=38956

Editor’s Note:

Fr Vsevolod makes it clear why we can’t support the Republican Party’s stance on abortion. The GOP is NOT pro-life… it’s for the criminalisation of abortion, a very different thing altogether. Note what Fr Vsevolod said:

Certainly, we should denounce those who voluntarily deny children the right to life, but we must remember that women often resort to abortion through dire necessity. This fact mandates that state and society work out effective measures to care for mothers and children, including provisions for financial aid.

This is where the Church’s position and that of the Republican Party diverge. You see, the GOP’s for shredding the social safety net; it refuses to accept “One Nation Conservatism”. Rather, shills such as Limbaugh, Beck, and Palin push a vision of a nasty Hobbesian world where there’s no government social welfare, where people are left unsupported in their sickness and unemployment, and where the oligarchs have unlimited and untrammelled power. On the other hand, the Church teaches that the state DOES have a role in providing for the needy… not just for mothers and children, but also for all those in need (the Catholics are in complete agreement with us on this issue… don’t listen to the loud RC “conservatives” on the internet). That’s to say, the whole GOP platform on social welfare is corrupt and putrid… in opposition to that, we must do our best to see that “welfare reform” is abolished and we must force all states in the USA to support their poor adequately (especially those Southern states contaminated by Sectarianism).

If you wish to end abortion… support the poor so that they aren’t pushed to the wall. If you wish to encourage abortion… then, push for the enactment of the Tea Party agenda. It’s the best and quickest way of encouraging abortion… isn’t that odd? It’s the Law of Unintended Consequence coming home to roost in quite a dramatic fashion, no?

We can follow Fr Vsevolod, or, we can follow Mitch McConnell… is that so hard to answer?

BMD

Texas MUST be Brought to Heel

THIS is what Rick Perry, George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Tom DeLay, and Mitch McConnell have tried to do to America… “Might makes right”, “The race goes to the swiftest”, “I earned it”… I say, “Don’t tread on me, oligarch!” Don’t forget… the John Whitefords of this world defend Citizens United… that is, your rights are only as deep as your bank account… after all, the Roberts court said so!

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Read this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101230/ap_on_re_us/us_epa_vs_texas;_ylt=AhzCWSaQgMYwfUDng6vuN1l34T0D;_ylu=X3oDMTJscWYxMnJjBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMjMwL3VzX2VwYV92c190ZXhhcwRwb3MDMTIEc2VjA3luX2FydGljbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawN0ZXhhc2VwYWZpZ2g-

The Republicans are refusing to obey the law and expect to be applauded for it! The rightwing in Texas has been egregious in its nastiness over the years (why does a state with 8 percent of the US population have 50 percent of the executions?). I know good people such as Ann and Mike who are exceptions to the nasty rule… but all too many in Texas are John Whitefords, full of ignorance, spouting xenophobic jingoism, and contaminated with sectarianism.

What’s most interesting is that these sorts wrap themselves up in the flag and mewl out maunderings about “rugged individualism”. I’ll say that’s a load of hooey. Texas is one of those states that receive more from the Feds than it pays in taxes. That is, Texas Republicans are painted and sluttish whores prostituting themselves to the feds (Tom DeLay anyone?) … if they were to lose their federal subsidies, their state would have to have a level of taxation HIGHER than that of New York State.

You see, the costs of tying together Texas are higher. It’s a bigger state with much less population density than in New York… on top of that, the cities are farther apart. This means that Texas must spend more on roads just to keep things moving. Besides this, if modern air conditioning weren’t available, it would be impossible to live and work comfortably in much of the state. Texas, therefore, must spend more money just to keep things together, but this cost is hidden by the fact that the state receives fat subsidies from Uncle Sugar. If the Federal government were shrunk and Texas was to lose its place at the Fed’s tit, well… Texas taxes would rise and New York’s would fall. All comers would see the true lunacy of the GOP’s policies.

Ignore all bleats of “rugged individualism”… those who have their hands DEEP in the Fed’s honey jar usually make them. After all, civilised places like New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, and California are only getting 60 to 80 percent back of their federal taxes… Tea Party bastions like Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and New Mexico are getting up to twice as much back. Let’s make these Neoliberal bastards eat their words. Let’s shrink the federal government… by cutting off their federal gravy train! You’d hear the John Whitefords of this world bellow if they had to face reality unaided… God, I’ve got to admit that such would warm my cockles… and those of most other folks too.

As far as Texas’ refusal to obey the law… if he refused to do the right thing, we should take Rick Perry, put him up against a wall, and shoot him dead. That’s how we should deal with such whores for the oligarchs! We should treat them the way VVP treated Khodorkovsky and Berezovsky… it’s why Russian unemployment in the depression was never as bad as it was in the USA. Rick Perry, George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Tom DeLay, Mitch McConnell, and Harley Barbour should be bustin’ rocks in the South Texas sun under the watchful eyes of Wally the Mexican and his grinning banditos… they’d be vigilant… you bet, especially after the GOP floozies dumped on the DREAM Act. Actions DO have consequences…

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Thursday 30 December 2010

Albany NY