JAMES P. writes:

You may recall the story of Abby Sunderland, who attempted to sail around the world solo at age 16 but who had to be rescued in rough seas.

Dutch girl Laura Dekker succeeded in sailing around the world solo. She is now 16 but was 14 when she began the journey. She may not return to the Netherlands because “Dutch authorities tried to block Ms Dekker’s trip, arguing she was too young to risk her life, while school officials complained she should be in a classroom.”  You will note that the “best rated” comments in the Daily Mail article cheer the “talented brave woman.” The worst rated ones say that her parents were irresponsible to permit her to do this and the Dutch government was right to discourage her.

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ON the 39th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, Obama stated that abortion allows women to have the same “opportunities” as men. He vowed to “continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.”

This is a perfect and concise acknowledgement of the masculinizing intentions of feminism, which is woman-hating to the core, and of the denial of any rights to the unborn. Abortion is no more of an “opportunity” for a woman than a leg amputation.

Obama also said that abortion “affirms a broader principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters.” But if the legalization of abortion is not intruding on “private family matters” then what is?

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  KIDIST PAULOS ASRAT, at Camera Lucida, has an interesting post about Jarvis Collegiate, formerly one of Canada's most elite high schools. Above is a photo of the class of 1907. Below is the class of 2008.

BRITISH regulatory agencies announced yesterday that private hospitals and clinics may for the first time advertise abortion services on television. The two agencies, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP), said there were no grounds for denying commercial enterprises the right to advertise given that abortion is legal.

Under Britain’s chillingly Orwellian regulations, an abortion provider is a Post-Conception Advice Service (PCAS). (more…)

AT VFR, Lawrence Auster offers a possible explanation for why men on the Costa Concordia rushed to save themselves without helping women and children:

While the loss of our culture’s ethos of chivalry is very regrettable, was it the reason the male crew members pushed past the female passengers to get in the life boats? Consider the fact that of the 1,000 crew members, at least 300 were Filipinos and the rest were largely Asian and Latin American. Mario Pellegrini, the deputy mayor of Giglio, who went out on a small boat to offer advice on the best way to get people on to the island, later told the National Post: (more…)

HOWARD SUTHERLAND writes:

Man in the Sky sounds like a movie I need to see. I’m a great Jack Hawkins fan, to begin with. Another movie that brings out that vanished man’s world of flying is 1957’s Zero Hour!, starring Sterling Hayden, Dana Andrews and others. Here is the New York Times’s favorable review of it; times have changed since 1957. (more…)

ACCORDING TO proposed education guidelines, a third-grader should be able to “[d]efine sexual orientation as the romantic attraction of an individual to someone of the same gender or a different gender” and “[i]dentify parents or other trusted adults of whom students can ask questions about sexual orientation.”

The guidelines are titled the National Sexuality Education Standards and come in a new report funded by the nation’s largest teachers union, the American School Health Association, and two other school health organizations.

America is likely to become the first country in the history of the world to formally teach young children that homosexuality is normal. Even if these standards are not adopted, it is highly unlikely that the impetus for introducing children to homosexuality at a younger and younger age will cease to gain momentum in public schools. There is simply no way of stopping it short of a revolution.   (more…)

A COMPLETE first edition of John James Audubon’s Birds of America sold to an undisclosed buyer for almost $8 million at a Christie’s auction in New York today. The four volume set of three-foot tall hand-colored, etched and aquatint plates made from Audubon’s life-size watercolor drawings is one of 120 complete sets in the world, most of which are owned by museums, universities and libraries. This edition was purchased in England by the fourth Duke of Portland sometime after 1838, when the collection was completed.  The record for a first edition set is $11.5 million.

For excellent images of plates in the set, see Christie’s slide show here. There is also a brief, well-written account of Audubon’s life on the same page. At Butlers Birds, Laurence Butler continues his series, “Wednesdays with Audubon.”

I have a beautiful volume of 223 of Audubon’s plates published by American Heritage in 1966. I paid $7.50 for it at a book sale.

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  IF YOU have not had a chance to read Alan's report on Grover Cleveland High School in St. Louis, I recommend it. More images of the school, so different on the exterior from the prison-like schools of today, can be seen here. The building even has gargoyles. 

A PROPOSAL that would have added pull-ups to the Physical Fitness Test for female Marines (yes, there are female Marines) has been tabled indefinitely and women will continue to be accepted without proving they can do a single pull-up.

The Marine Corps Times reports that men currently score 100 points on the PFT when completing 20 pull-ups. The proposed change would have awarded 100 points to women who do six pull-ups. That, however, has been deemed too rigorous. Women are currently required to do a flexed-arm hang for a minimum of 60 seconds. According to the newspaper: (more…)

ENOUGH SAID
by Clark McAdams

St. Louis Dispatch [1912]

“Votes for women!”
was the cry
Reaching upward
to the sky
Crashing glass
and flashing eye
“Votes for women”
was the cry. (more…)

  SEE Michael D.'s comments on the character and motives of Trent Arsenault, the man who has "fathered" 14 children through sperm donation. He writes: Arsenault doesn’t realize that broadcasting his revolting behavior has nailed shut the door of opportunity once and for all — it is now certain he will never meet, date, romance, marry or father children with a woman. He is condemned to loneliness and misery. How long will it be before he realises his self-inflicted thankless tragedy comes without a prize? The devil has inspired him to wreck his life and take down society too.

  THE lead story at Drudge is this article by the Associated Press about Indiana's new license plate. The message is aimed at homosexual teens. Proceeds from sale of the plate will go to an organization that develops homosexual support groups in high schools. Maryland offers a similar plate, according to the AP. This would be shocking in California or Massachusetts, but in Indiana, it blows the mind. Homosexual activism grows more and more bullying by the day.

AT VFR, in a discussion of Newt Gingrich’s statement that unemployed blacks should seek work at low-level jobs, a commenter Paul K. writes:

I think you’ve hit upon one of the great conundrums of the current state of civil rights. (more…)

IN THE discussion of the men who reportedly left the sinking Costa Concordia without helping women and children, Jesse Powell explains why the behavior of men on the Titanic has received so much attention. He writes: 

There’s a reason why the heroic sacrifice of men on the Titanic became legendary and was celebrated far and wide for generations. It was the ultimate exemplar of chivalry; it was the strongest possible signal to womankind that they were safe and would be well cared for under the direction and authority of men.

As Jesse also notes:

Men must take care of women precisely to prevent women from feeling the need to take care of themselves; a woman who feels the need to take care of herself is exactly what a feminist is. (more…)

JAMES P. writes:

In this previous post, Michael D. wrote, apropos of donation to sperm banks,

Only a man who loathes himself, lacks dignity and self respect would consider doing such a thing, abandoning responsibility for any unknown children he sires with women who mean nothing to him… I cannot imagine the impact on a child when he learns that he was not intentionally conceived in love between his parents, but that his pathetic father was a compulsive masturbator who never even met his mother. (more…)

JOHN L. GRAHAM writes:

My father, Captain A. G. Graham, was a master mariner who sailed before the mast at age 16, graduated to steam ships, and worked his way up to a Master’s certificate, obtaining a degree in maritime law from Stanford University in the meantime. He retired from Farrell Lines as commodore of the fleet, the senior captain, with an enviable record of never having lost a ship, passenger, or crew member while under his command, even though he sailed through U-boat infested waters during World War II. (more…)