Jemsweb

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Obama wins! And mentions the gays and the disabled in his victory speech! I am hoping he will turn out to be a closet socialist just like John McCain said, and start REALLY redistributing some wealth.

Still watching the proposed same-sex marriage ban in California, which is looking like it will pass thanks in part to $20 million donated by the Mormon Church to support it. Maybe still some hope though?

Did you know that Sarah Palin is one of the polar bear’s only natural predators? Forget Joe Biden, let’s chuck this bear into the Vice-Presidential debate and see who comes out on top!

Here’s the Guardian’s take on it: Sarah Palin v the polar bear: who will survive?.

Hilarious skit from the weekend’s Saturday Night Live featuring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hilary Clinton.

“I can see Russia from my house”

Check out this great clip where Tina Fey endorses Hillary on SNL.

Tina is so fucking funny, I love her. And I am a Hillary supporter too! Go Texas and Ohio!! It’s not too late!

A new Christian group has been formed in the USA to promote the acceptance of gay, lesbian and transgender people. Some multi millionaire is funding advertisements in Christian publications. They have some very powerful print ads.

Good on these guys! I must say that I am guilty sometimes of a negative attitude towards Christianity that’s hard to shake when you are faced with certain fundamentalist attitudes. Great to see someone standing up for moderate, tolerant Christianity!

Here’s a great article about this by Kim Ficera.

I was reading an interesting post on Mauzy’s Musings about termination of pregnancies with a diagnosis of Down Syndrome and thought I’d put down my thoughts – it’s an issue I feel very strongly about.

I do support the rights of women to terminate their pregnancies – I’m a pro-choicer from way back. But the estimate is that about 90% of DS pregnancies are now terminated because of pre-diagnosis. To me, eliminating people who have a particular condition is not a “cure”. It’s actually genocide. Especially considering that these are all late terminations because amniocentesis cannot be performed until 15-18 weeks of pregnancy. This means that the mothers have to take a tablet to first kill the fetus, and then they have to actually go through an induced labour to remove it.

Apparently in Ireland because it’s a Catholic country, there are huge numbers of people with DS and other disabilities. We are losing that diversity in other Western countries. It’s like the thin end of the wedge of eugenics. Another example of our society’s obsession with physical perfection.

I don’t blame the mothers who are having the terminations, but rather the medical profession that gives them three days to choose and no real information about DS. For many people it’s the first time they’ve really thought about it. If they had a chance to go to the Down Syndrome Association in their area and meet some kids with DS, I know some of them would change their minds.

Apparently an actual cure for DS is not too far away – it will be one of the easier genetic modifications as it involves a whole gene. I really believe our children will be the last generation of kids with Down Syndrome. And that makes me feel really sad. But there’s a big difference between a real cure and what is happening now.

Phew! That was a bit heavy for Jemsweb – back to the inane drivel next post I promise.