All hail the partit tal-progressivi
Published:
December 6, 2008 at 7:15pm
The Times, Friday, 5th December 2008 – 10:37CET
Gift of Life welcomes Muscat’s statement
The Gift of Life Foundation has welcomed Opposition leader Joseph Muscat’s declaration at the meeting for European Socialist leaders in Madrid, that the Labour Party was a pro-life party.
Gift of Life said that in his statement, Dr Muscat underlined the need for European socialists to not only set a new direction for Europe but to elect to the European Parliament members who worked for the people and their country.
Gift of Life said it felt very encouraged that the PL would be keeping its word in fielding pro-life candidates to contest the MEP elections in 2009.
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Probably JM believed GOL’s survey!
Check out this web I think all readers will find it interesting http://www.maltaknight2.blogspot.com
From Malta Knight
[Daphne – Hilarious, Malta Knight. I mean it. I particularly admire your chutzpah. I would never dream of blogging in Italian or French.]
Why does everyone have an opinion on abortion? Pro-Life, pro-choice, for, against. I think the only person who should have an opinion is the person in the situation. Personally, I don’t think I’d ever have an abortion. Being a guy, that’s easy for me to say. I’m never going to be in that situation. So while I don’t agree with abortion, I would never presume to judge any girl who chose that route. Does that make me pro-life or pro-choice? I don’t know, you tell me!
Steve:
That makes you pro-choice. Pro-choice means you support the right for a woman to make the choice, end of story. That’s the reason so many pro-life people prefer to refer to their opponents as pro-abortion, rather than pro-choice.
@Steve – “does that make me pro-life or pro-choice?”
Dear Steve, perhaps the following could make you decide whether you are pro-life or pro-choice!
A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said:
‘Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even 1 yr. old and I’m pregnant again. I don’t want kids so close together.’
So the doctor said: ‘Ok, and what do you want me to do?’
She said: ‘I want you to end my pregnancy, and I’m counting on your help with this.’
The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady: ‘I think I have a better solution for your problem. It’s less dangerous for you too.’
She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request. Then he continued: ‘You see, in order for you not to have to take care of 2 babies at the same time, let’s kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we’re going to kill one of them, it doesn’t matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms.
The lady was horrified and said: ‘No doctor! How terrible! It’s a crime to kill a child!
‘I agree’, the doctor replied. ‘But you seemed to be ok with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point.
[Daphne – This is one of those smug and hackneyed modern-day parables that has been doing the rounds by email for ages. And it makes no sense at all – you can’t equate a real, live baby with a four-week foetus, or the mother’s emotional response to it, either.]
another Steve, I’m going to have to agree with Daphne on this one. You’re comparing apples and oranges! My initial question was more sarcastic, then an attempt to get an answer. What I’m trying to get at is that why should I have an opinion on someone else’s life. I guess I’m entitled to an opinion, what I think is wrong, is that my opinion in any way forces that person to do something they don’t want to do…either way. How can I know what a pregnant mother is thinking? I can’t, and I never will, so how can I say she should not have an abortion, or she should? I can’t and I don’t think anyone except she should have to make that decision. In that respect that makes me pro-choice. BUT, I don’t much like abortion, and think it’s wrong. That’s my personal opinion, so in that respect I’m pro-life. (optimal word there is personal)
This is one … has been doing the rounds by email for ages.
From what I can see this email did not do enough rounds as yet otherwise our friends would have had no difficulty in deciding whether they are pro life or pro choice. Pro choice is just pro death with some make up on and wrapped in glittering paper. The liar has a hundred and one ways how to mask his actions and words to make us believe that they are great. We are just foolish enough to believe him blindly.
you can’t equate a real, live baby with a four-week foetus, or the mother’s emotional response to it, either
It ? When does the ‘it’ gets transformed to either him or her ?
[Daphne – In the English language, babies are ‘it’. Maybe it’s an echo of the days when babies were believed not to be fully human.]
Do you know the one about the young Maltese couple who went to London looking for an abortion clinic? You know, the one about the 50p coin?
[Daphne – No, do tell.]
[Daphne – This is one of those smug and hackneyed modern-day parables that has been doing the rounds by email for ages. And it makes no sense at all – you can’t equate a real, live baby with a four-week foetus, or the mother’s emotional response to it, either.]
Your opinion.
[Daphne – No, Sybil: not my opinion but fact. I work in communication, so if I describe a round-robin email that originated among America’s Christian Right as a smug and hackneyed modern-day parable that has been doing the rounds for ages, you can rest assured that this is exactly what it is. That it makes no sense at all is also a fact because it is irrational at root. That you can’t equate a real, live baby with a four-week foetus, or the mother’s emotional response to it, is another fact. Many women don’t even ‘know’ they’re carrying a four-week-old foetus. As far as they’re concerned, their period is two weeks late. But try taking a woman’s baby away from her, and she will go at you with an axe.]
Another Steve: Pro-choice is not pro-death if a choice is made not to abort, is it?
@Corinne et al
The thing is that there is no choice. Steve said, ‘What I’m trying to get at is that why should I have an opinion on someone else’s life.’ I agree with you Steve. You cannot.
One does not even have a right over his life. I have no right for example to end my life, simply because it is not mine. God gave me life and only he has the right to take it back. At least, this is what I believe in.
I agree with you Daphne re the mother’s emotional response. Locally we have the saying, away from the eyes away from the heart, but do you think that that fact should consent the man and the women to terminate that life? Because, lets be honest, woman do not procreate on their own. Men are equally if not more responsible. So lets not throw the blame solely on women.
Regarding the use of the word ‘it’, I understood your point and thanks for explaining it. It seems to be a question of from where life starts off !
Good day to all
@ another Steve:
“One does not even have a right over his life. I have no right for example to end my life, simply because it is not mine. God gave me life and only he has the right to take it back”.
I hope you realise that this argument can be turned on its head.
In a similar vein, one could argue such: “God gave me life and I have no right to insist on staying alive by taking medication when I need it. If God wants to take my life away (which He gave me, and so has all the right to take back), I should refuse all medical help and die gladly”.
So it would seem that doctors and scientists are doing the devil’s work, by helping people defy “God’s will”.
It’s a question of grammar, damn it.
@ Daphne
Re. MaltaKnight2 Blog
Rarely do I find myself not agreeing with what you write, but this time I simply do not understand how you can laugh at that commentary.
In contrast to you, that entry made me cry. Never have I (struggled) to read so much drivel crammed into two such unconstructed and ungrammatical paragraphs. Rarely have I seen the English language butchered in this manner. Never mind the mindless lack of logic in the content, but at least, for God’s sake can’t the person who wrote(?) that entry try to learn how to write passable English. Maybe than I can join you in laughing at the content.
Life begins at conception. Incontestable.
@ Corinne Vella: Pro-choice is pro-death in so far as it is a euphemism for pro-killing of human foetuses.
Right, let’s confuse Manuel. Define conception. Is it when the cells fuse? When the chromo-thingies unite? When? When? And when does life end? Really, saying that one has no right to take one’s life because God put one here is downright anti-Christian, what. Did God ask permission? Does he need permission? Do I need God’s permission to believe in his existence? Did God ever speak to me? Who is God, what is God? What God do you worship? Does God need me? If he/she/it/feministcrap does not need me, then why was I put here? And where does it all end? In the womb, where it all began? Dust to dust? Is an embryo dust? Am I making sense? Define the meaning of life and give three examples.
@ Manuel:
Actually, life starts before conception. Sperm is very much alive. With every ejaculate, millions of live sperm are released. With every copulation, millions of sperm are “killed”. If life is what matters, we should all be celibate.
Manuel Tuesday, 9 December 2032hrs
@ Corinne Vella: Pro-choice is pro-death in so far as it is a euphemism for pro-killing of human foetuses.
Pro-choice is a politically correct term for de-criminalizing the infanticide of our own future generations. Look around and see wha is happening to Europe. The low birth rate and the millions of unborn children killed off by legal abortion over more then two decades has now made it essential for the EU to import cheap slave labour from elsewhere to ensure that there are enough workers to pay tax and insurance and help industries compete with cheap Chinese labour. Europe has effectively bumped off one or two of its own future generations.
Pro-choice as a slogan mean precious little for the unprotected life growing inside its mother’s belly except death.
Manuel: The implication of the word ‘choice’ is that there are alternatives. How does choosing not to abort equate with killing foetuses?
@Manuel “Life begins at conception. Incontestable”
Nonsense. life starts many years before conception. About thirty years in fact.
@H.P.
I admire your sauce!
What has God got to do with the little sentence I wrote, and you are responding to? I never mentioned Him, Christ, the Bible or the Church.
My argument actually has to do with human rights: The human right – to life which every human being enjoys by virtue of his/her humanity.
3 examples of life? a plant, your dog and me slumbering on the sofa when I espy the curvaceous form of Catherine Zeta-Jones on telly.
@ Kenneth I sperm an individual human being distinct from its owner?
@H.P. Baxxter
Did God ask permission? – What for? To create?
Does he need permission? – From whom?
Do I need God’s permission to believe in his existence? – Faith is God’s gift which only in one’s life one may opt to accept or refuse.
Did God ever speak to me? – The Bible
Who is God, what is God? – The acceptance of one’s humility
What God do you worship? – There’s only one God
Does God need me? – He does not need your love, He wants it
If he/she/it/feministcrap does not need me, then why was I put here? – One does not need his children; why does one procreate?
And where does it all end? In the womb, where it all began? Dust to dust? Is an embryo dust? – If it were so, it would be an absolutely unjust world.
Does one have to see to believe or believe that he might see?
@ Manuel:
“Kenneth I(s) sperm an individual human being distinct from its owner?”.
Sperm is as much an individual human being as a few cells one (or a few) day(s) after conception – not at all.
That was my whole point.
Let me ask you a question: What, in your opinion, makes someone a human being? Take your time before replying, since this question is loaded with implications.
@ Lino:
I hope you take this as rational debate with no intention to offend, but I would like to address a few of your replies to H.P.Baxxter.
If, as you say, faith is God’s gift, then you would probably have to believe that both believers and unbelievers can’t help being so. If God implants faith in someone, surely that someone cannot reject it, if one defines faith as belief in the unprovable. Belief is not something one chooses. Belief is the effect of one or more causes, some of which would be genetic, education, and for believers spiritual.
Regarding God speaking to you through the bible, this is not without its own problems. There are various contradictory texts which believers claim to be the word of God (Muslim, Hindu, Christian etc). This necessarily means that at least some of them are not truly the word of God, and one cannot outrightly reject the possibility that none of them are. As you would probably say, it is all a matter of faith (unprovable belief).
Regarding embryos being dust, of course they are not. However, if they were so, the world is neither just nor unjust. Nature is amoral and does not care about its individual parts.
@ Corinne: Pro-choice as a term is a tragic joke, because it misrepresents a scenario where there really should be no choice other than to protect defenceless life in the womb, as one where it is is legitimate to consider other options……
@ Kenneth Cassar “What, in your opinion, makes someone a human being?”
I would say that a human being is formed at about 2-3 years of age when self-awareness starts to creep in. Having said that the first traits develop in the ovum, about 30 years before conception, that is when the human “being” is first formed, however this being is not fuly developed till about 2-3years following birth. Having said that some humans , such as some autistic chldren, may never achieve self-awareness , and are therefore never fully-fledged human beings. Some monkeys are therfore more human than some people.
@lino
For a more comprehensive list of amswers to HP Baxters questions, I recommend the following:
http://www.wonderfulatheistsofcfl.org/Quotes.htm
[Daphne – No, Sybil: not my opinion but fact. I work in communication, so if I describe a round-robin email that originated among America’s Christian Right as a smug and hackneyed modern-day parable that has been doing the rounds for ages, you can rest assured that this is exactly what it is. That it makes no sense at all is also a fact because it is irrational at root. That you can’t equate a real, live baby with a four-week foetus, or the mother’s emotional
response to it, is another fact. Many women don’t even ‘know’ they’re carrying a four-week-old foetus. As far as they’re concerned, their period is two weeks late. But try taking a woman’s baby away from her, and she will go at you with an axe.]
have you ever held in your palm a four week old naturally aborted foetus and spoken to the mother?
[Daphne – Sybil, are you serious? Gadzillions of women have ‘missed a period’, and most of them couldn’t be more thrilled when it’s back the next month. They don’t even think in terms of a foetus. The women you are talking about are those who are trying desperately for a baby, so of course, this kind of thing is a major disaster to them. It isn’t a major disaster to the rest, but rather the opposite.]
Sybil:
The foetal stage begins at 9 weeks. An embryo at 4 weeks has no eyes, no brain and no heartbeat.