Well, my 53rd birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, so here's what I'd like:
Please make a donation to any or all of these fine organizations:
- the National Center for Science Education - the main US organization fighting the nonsense of creationism and intelligent design
- the American Civil Liberties Union - one of the few organizations devoted to preserving our rights and fighting the creeping totalitarianism of government
- the Canadian Civil Liberties Association - the Canadian version of the ACLU
- the James Randi Educational Foundation - devoted to improving critical thinking and exposing the charlatans of pseudoscience and quack medicine
- the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance - a small grassroots organization devoted to preserving wild areas in my favorite part of the world
- Planned Parenthood of Waterloo Region - here in the Bible belt of Ontario we need Planned Parenthood to get out the information that anti-abortion groups want to suppress
- Ecojustice Canada - formerly the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, one of Canada's leading environmental organizations
That's what I would like.
Happy Birthday, Jeffrey!
ReplyDelete-Chris H.
There is a bible belt of Ontario?
ReplyDeleteI recommend you do a Youtube search of "planned parenthood undercover" before you recommend people donate to Planned Parenthood.
ReplyDeleteMiranda:
ReplyDeleteI recommend you do a course in reading comprehension.
Even if allegations about some US chapters of Planned Parenthood are true (hint: does the name Andrew Breitbart mean something to you?), they have nothing to do with Planned Parenthood of Waterloo Region, the group I recommended. I've interacted with the staff there for 20 years. They are wonderful people.
Another suggestion:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sharingmachine.com/booksmisc.php?item=31
I didn't know there such a thing as "Bible belt of Ontario". Somehow I thought that Canadians don't suffer from the same disease as, say, Southern (and not only) US states. Interesting.
ReplyDelete"I've interacted with the staff there for 20 years. They are wonderful people."
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the folks at these other PP places are wonderful people, too, as long as they're not in the position of having to report a rape.
I live in the UK. Admittedly, the UK is not Canada (and neither the UK nor Canada is the USA).
ReplyDeleteBut in this country we have this fantastic invention called "patient confidentiality". If you have someone as your patient, you are not allowed to give any personal information about your patient to anyone (with a tiny and irrelevant set of exceptions). This personal information even includes the fact that they were your patient at all, and "anyone" includes the police.
Why is it a fantastic invention? It makes it safe to seek medical help. You can't be worried about the ramifications of getting medical help, because there can't be any. In real-life situations this is regularly a genuine life-saver for people in otherwise impossible positions.
So, in the UK, the idea of someone "having to report a rape" is meaningless. Clinics can't even choose to report a rape, let alone be forced to do so.
Do they not have these highly civilised laws in the USA and Canada, too, then?
Can I just take a biotechnology class and devote my life to science instead for your birthday?
ReplyDeleteAfter Hume philosophy got really boring.... so I'm either thinking about staying fluffy with sociology or going deep and hard with microbiology.
Either way. Happy birthday mate!
That's a disgusting implication, Miranda.
ReplyDeleteDid you help David Johnston with his coat of arms?
ReplyDeleteBinary Sequence
Hi Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI often visit your blog because I enjoy it very much. Happy Birthday in advance. I believe you were 23 when we met. I moved back to my former home in Vallejo and will send you that address. We are doing very well and hope you and your family are too. Enjoying reading the classics again, including Zola. That's it for now.
Warm regards,
Janet
> "the American Civil Liberties Union - one of the few organizations devoted to preserving our rights and fighting the creeping totalitarianism of government"
ReplyDeleteGreat cause, indeed, but there are much better organizations. The ACLU's mindset forces itself to be often hypocritical:
www.stoptheaclu.com/2006/09/27/aclu-a-legacy-of-hypocrisy/
(If you don't like the very right-wing stoptheaclu, googing on "aclu hypocrisy" will bring up some more liberal critiques of the ACLU, too.)
> "- the National Center for Science Education - the main US organization fighting the nonsense of creationism and intelligent design"
I'm sure the NCSE be much more proud seeing a discription of what they do, not what they fight against.
Here's a NYT article about the ACLU:
ReplyDeleteA.C.L.U. May Block Criticism by Its Board
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/24/us/24aclu.html?_r=2&hp&ex=1148443200&en=9a8b9549e98abc4c&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Miranda:
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean I shouldn't expect anything from you on October 17?
[Note to self: remove Miranda from guest list.]
And I really love your citing "Stop the ACLU" as if they were a legit organization, instead of a bunch of right-wing crackpots. Great comedy! (Google "Brayton STACLU" if you want to see more.)
Good moronic stuff, Miranda - keep it up!
> "I really love your citing "Stop the ACLU" as if they were a legit organization, instead of a bunch of right-wing crackpots."
ReplyDeleteApparently you missed my disclaimer: "If you don't like the very right-wing stoptheaclu..."
I purposely shared with you a "far-out" group (which is no more far out than the ACLU, by the way) as well as the moderate New York times piece to see whether you would focus more on the message than the messenger.
That was indeed the case. You are not interested in any argument that demonstrates ACLU hypocrisy.
Miranda never tires of working hard to increase her already epic levels of irrelevance.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, do you honestly believe that anyone who frequents this blog respects your opinion on any topic, ever? You posting links opposing something is almost enough to make me donate to them almost automatically.
"Oh, Miranda is very opposed to this organization. That must mean they're doing good works."
Ty:
ReplyDeleteAs I wrote in one of my previous postings on this blog, I find it extremely amusing to read what Miranda has to say each time. I click in anticipation to find another Miranda comment. She seems to be a confused religious person of some kind, but I wouldn't know for sure. In any case, you should see it as comic relief.
"You posting links opposing something is almost enough to make me donate to them almost automatically."
ReplyDeleteNice to know how you arrive at your opinions. Brilliant, Ty!
Happy belated birthday, Professor Shallit! Would you consider adding UNICEF and Oxfam to your list?
ReplyDeleteMore on the ACLU:
ReplyDeletehttp://pajamasmedia.com/blog/some-rights-causes-are-more-equal-than-others/
"Planned Parenthood of Waterloo Region - here in the Bible belt of Ontario we need Planned Parenthood to get out the information that anti-abortion groups want to suppress"
ReplyDeleteSpeaking about suppressing information, I would suspect that you haven't seen this Planned Parenthood video:
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/16/just-what-you-want-to-hear-planned-parenthood-works-around-the-clock-to-hook-your-kids-on-sex/
To watch the video, you'll have to find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCEls_QS2Dk
I think that website is well-named and appropriate for you, Miranda.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll have my brother Guido watch those Planned Parenthood videos with your kids. I'm sure you won't mind.
ReplyDeleteMiranda - please get help. These sorts of paranoid fantasies are dangerous.
ReplyDeleteYou used to have a sense of humor. The fact that you had no reaction whatsoever upon seeing that video means that maybe /you/ need help.
ReplyDeleteGreat organization you support, Jeff: http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/05/29/Disturbing-Undercover-Video-Planned-Parenthood-Encouraging-Gender-Selective-Abortion-Medicaid-Fraud
ReplyDeleteBreitbart's organization has such a proven track record of dishonesty & misrepresentation that no one with any integrity should rely on anything they put out until it has been vetted by a less partisan organization.
ReplyDeleteOf course, that leaves Miranda out.