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Apparently, it's never occurred to these people that it's not the rich that start wars, it's governments. And when governments make wars, it's the people that fund those wars who die.
Well, I don't know about you, but I feel better now.
- raising the age of sexual consent,Now there are a lot of VERY different measures in here. For instance, raising the age of sexual consent is a decision that depends on reasoning that more or less contradicts the rationale used when deciding to strengthen the Youth Criminal Justice Act - are youth responsible for their actions or aren't they? If you think someone who is 14 should be treated as an adult when they commit a murder, then why shouldn't they be treated as an adult when they make the decision to sleep with someone much older than them.
- increasing penalties for impaired drivers,
- toughen bail provisions and impose mandatory prison sentences on "gun crimes,"
- reintroducing security certificates*,
- toughen the Youth Criminal Justice Act,
- new initiatives on dealing with elder abuse,
- new initiatives on curbing identity theft,
- awarding police new powers to deal with drug dealers.
- funding the recruitment of 2,500 new officers.
1. Faith-based schools did not lose the PCs the election;
2. Right-wing policy isn't necessarily needed for PCs to win, but it helps
3. It wasn't about leadership; and
4. John Tory should step down.
- The party held back ridings from holding their nomination meetings until the very last minute, stopping them from doing the on-the-ground work that needs to be done as early as possible and for as long as possible in non-incumbent ridings.
- John Tory's decision to eliminate all paid positions with the party and rely on volunteers to help eliminate the party's debt was the wrong decision in at least one area, which was database upkeep, management and tech support. This is an area that should have been high priority for the party, but obviously took a back seat to debt elimination which, while positive internally, does nothing to help get more votes in a general election. Because the database was neglected, work that had been done in the past was lost, and the database was even unavailable, at length, immediately before the campaign, delaying the work pushed back by late nomination races even further.
- The policy process, as I mentioned, was a sham, in spite of a Tory promise to put it back into the hands of members. The party under Tory made the decision to make the policy process so nontransparent that nobody knew what the policy would be, and then made the decision not to release the policy that they did come up with until it was far too late.
- The people John Tory selected to run his headquarters never seemed to get their act together. Locally, we came up with a saying whenever someone expressed frustration when trying to get hold of someone at the party: "It's the Ontario PC Party - nobody's home." Unless you had some personal connection within the party hierarchy the odds of you getting an answer to any question or a solution to any problem were not good.
Every now and then, I have to remind myself of something that ought to be obvious but seems incomprehensible to me all the same: namely, that a good many people who go into politics --most people, in fact --don't give a fig about policy.
It isn't just that they don't know the first thing about it, and usually get it wrong. It's that they couldn't care less. It doesn't even occur to them that they should care. They do not inhabit a world in which policy matters. To them, politics is strictly about gangs -- only instead of Crips and Bloods, they're called Liberals and Conservatives.
That's your ordinary politician. But of these there is a special breed, who glories in the title of the Practical Man. The Practical Man is not just ignorant of policy. He is hostile to it, at least so far as this involves the careful and systematic study of a subject, the fruits of which he is inclined to dismiss as "ideology." His ideology is to have no ideology, on which point he is as precisely dogmatic as any pharisee.
This will come as a surprise to those who think of policy and politics as being somehow related. But they are not -- or if they are related, it is in active opposition to each other. I can say that with some confidence, at least, with regard to economics.
All of economics is devoted to the proposition that there is no such thing as a free lunch. All of politics is devoted to the opposite conviction. All economics teaches that you can't get something for nothing. All politics supposes that you can -- or that you can at least persuade other people that you can. Economics is about scarcity, universal and inescapable. Politics is about limitless plenty.
Consider that 98% of all bad policy amounts to nothing more than ignoring opportunity costs: the simple axiom that the cost of something is measured not just by the actual sum of money used to produce it, but what the same funds might have purchased, diverted to another end-- the profits forgone, the jobs not created, because that money was spent in one way and not another.
This has nothing to with that mythical media beast, "conservative economics." It isn't conservative or liberal. It isn't even economics, come right down to it. It's physics. More in one place means less in another.
Wherever you look, the inescapable conclusion is the same: Reducing carbon emissions is not the best way to help the world. I don't point this out merely to be contrarian. We do need to fix global warming in the long run. But I'm frustrated at our blinkered focus on policies that won't achieve it.
Rather than declare that there are "no safe drugs," as Health Minister Tony Clement is expected to do when the anti-drug campaign is launched, the government should consider accepting that -- for good or bad -- drug use is a personal choice. As such, there is little it can do to prevent it. But given that it is a personal choice, society has little obligation to pay for the consequences of misuse. Legalize most drugs, but also declare no welfare for addicts. Let private charities supply relief and health care for those who abuse drugs. That would at least compel some users to confront the economic costs of their choices and might -- might -- discourage more Canadians from taking drugs than any preachy government advertising campaign or assault on casual drug use.
There's also a health-care cost element to suggesting to young people that using illicit drugs is OK, the minister said.
"The fact of the matter is they're unhealthy," Mr. Clement said.
"They create poor health outcomes."
"We're going to be into a different world and take tackling these issues very seriously because (of) the impact on the health and safety of our kids."
Mr. Clement said treatment and prevention programs were his key priorities for the health element of the drug strategy.
"Yes, there's a justice issue to that," he said.
"But there's also a treatment issue, there's also a prevention issue."
Last week, a letter in the Star attacked the Canadian Medical Association's proposed changes to the Canadian Health care system, explaining that vested interests shouldn't be allowed to overhaul the Canadian health care system in the name of profit.
There are plenty of letters like this – "Peoples' lives and well-being shouldn't depend on their income or anything else!" letters always seem to proclaim, and no system could be beneficial if it is concerned primarily with money.
But this week, letters about Mexican immigrants are all the rage. Unlike the Canadian health care system, though, money is what it's all about.
We can't afford these immigrants! Ship them back and all of our problems will be solved. Will they be impoverished? Will they starve? Not our problem! Unless you're from Canada or you have your paper work in order, all the human rights we claim to believe in go flying out the window.
That's what we've fought for all these years, after all: a country free from discrimination based on anything other than country of origin and completeness of paperwork.
The worst part is that Canadians are so afraid of change that we won't consider real solutions to either of these problems, and we'll look the other way when our values become completely inconsistent.
We'll try to guarantee ourselves a better life by stopping the poor and hungry from coming here the way our ancestors did… but don't mess with our universal health care!
Talk about a double standard.
Pay attention to the guy midway through who is stuck on a waiting list for cataract surgery. The reason he's on that list, when LASIK or similar procedures remain private and can be had in a matter of days, is that the former is an "essential" service, while the latter is "cosmetic" only.
That's right, the absolutely necessary procedure is inaccessible and severely rationed, while the elective one has become as ubiquitous as a brake and muffler shop. Just one of the many logical somersaults you Americans will have to get used to performing once Hillary and Obama start ladling out the "free" medicine.
Tory MP Pierre Poilievre quickly moved an amendment to have the study include the expenses of all parties for every election since 1997.
"If they vote to hide their books from the public, then they should explain what they have to hide," Poilievre said.
Parents in the Panhandle may face jail time if their children continue to skip school.
Officials in Escambia County are weighing a tough new penalty that says if children have 10 unexcused absences in 90 calendar days, their parents would be put behind bars.
Officials said children who miss that much school put their entire futures in jeopardy.
Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre says it boils down to the right of candidates to spend money as they see fit.Oh, well that's fantastic! Candidates have the right to spend money as they see fit during an election, but individual Canadians or third party groups? Well that would just be silly. Heck, the Conservative government outright banned corporate donations, completely ignoring corporations' freedoms of speech and association.
"Law enforcement is based on a very simple principle premise: there is a perpetrator and a victim. The police catch the accused perpetrator and put him or her in jail. The courts then decide the guilt or innocence of the accused and an appropriate punishment if guilty. This protects the victim and others from further victimization and keeps the perpetrator from further perpetrations.
A serious problem arises when the accused perpetrator and the victim are one and the same. Such is the case with consensual crimes. When the police put the accused in jail, they are putting the victim in jail too. How, then, can the police protect the victim? Law enforcement, thus preverted, begins to deteriorate.
With a real crime, the genuine victim goes to the police and reports it. The police then set about to catch the criminal. With a consensual crime, who reports the crime? Obviously, no one directly involved. Everyone consented to it; they're not going to be complaining to the police. The police, then, must become spies, busybodies, and entrappers in order to catch consensual criminals victimizing themselves. Imagine how demoralizing and corrupting this entire procedure can be to both police and society.
As Jackson Eli Reynolds reported in The Washington Post,
Drug offenses... may be regarded as the prototypes of non-victim crimes today. They private nature of the sale and use of drugs has led the police to resort to methods of detection and surveillance that intrude upon our privacy, including illegal search, eavesdropping, and entrapment.
Indeed, the successful prosecution of such cases often requires police infringement of the constitutional protections that safeguard the privacy of individuals."
"WikiScanner, a website launched on Monday by a U.S. graduate student, shows that changes to articles originated from computers inside a variety of government offices...
... a significant number of edits were made to articles about politicians that removed criticisms, added positive comments and, in some cases, inserted negative comments to the pages of political rivals...
MPs whose Wikipedia pages were significantly altered include Toronto-area Liberal Dan McTeague, Calgary Conservative Jason Kenney and Southern Ontario Conservative Jeff Watson, who serves on the Commons' access to information, privacy and ethics committee. ...
(emphasis mine -- and you must be joking.)
"It can be detrimental to the subject of an article that has information that casts you in a negative light or brings up events that you would rather forget about; hence, the desire to modify the entries so that particular events are recast or deleted altogether. You can't do this with Encyclopedia Britannica, but you can do this with Wikipedia," Mr. Broadhead said. "But to be seen deleting factual information - to me that borders on being scandalous."
One user, with an IP address that points to a government office in Ottawa, removed Wikipedia's entire entry on homosexuality several times on July 20, 2005, and replaced it with such sentences as: "Homosexuality is evil," "Homosexuality is wrong according to the Bible" and "Homosexuals need our help and counselling." The IP address responsible for that edit continued to deface the entry on homosexuality a total of 24 times between July, 2005, and July, 2006, and also edited more than 500 other Wikipedia articles on topics such as epidemiology, Ebola and Deal or No Deal (a TV game show starring a Canadian host).
Most people who condemn currently illegal consensual activities know little or nothing about them. All they know are the sensationalized media accounts designed not to educate, but titillate. Unless they take part in the activities themselves - or have close friends who do - most people have bad relationships with the mere existence of these consensual activities. The primary emotions seem to be revulsion and fear, born of ignorance. Revulsion and fear keep one from investigating and learning that there is nothing much to be repulsed by or afraid of. It is a closed loop of ignorance (ignore-ance).
The unwillingness to see that "It is my judgment, based on my ignorance, that is causing the problem" is the problem. Bad relationships promote worse relationships. Worse relationships promote impossible relationships. Impossible relationships promote laws against consensual activities.
The goal of all Canadian governments should be to see that everyone has access to health care; this can be achieved by paying for the care of those who can't afford it. Owning hospitals, employing doctors and nurses, banning health insurance and preventing doctors from working both publicly and privately are all measures that are not only unrelated to this goal, they seem to be preventing us from reaching it.And he's right - if the goal of Canada's governments is to ensure that all Canadians have health care, all that is needed is a subsidy of health insurance premiums - not government-owned-and-run hospitals, not public-only health clinics and diagnostics, not even a specific government plan like medicare - simply a set of rules that the subscriber would have to adhere to to get government coverage, or a maximum that the government is willing to pay for the premium.
In order to think about institutional choices related to health care, I've learned to ask two questions. First, who pays? And secondly, who makes decisions about the care provided? The first question is important because medical providers pay the most attention to the person or institution that pays them. If I pay my grocer myself, she will make sure she stocks food that I like. If she is paid by someone else (for example, the corporation that owns her store), then she'll be sure to put what that person wants on the shelf, and pay less attention to my requests. The second question is important because different decision-makers may have different objectives to fulfill in their determination of the care you receive
The commonality between HMOs and single-payer national health care systems should have made Michael Moore more skeptical about the European, Cuban and Canadian systems. You see, each of these countries has a health care system that is, in effect, a single, national HMO.The quotes are from The Skeptical Liberal, and you can read his extremely well-thought out and defended opinion on Michael Moore's Sicko and the effects ofHMOs on American health care in their entierty here.
Because I know Canada the best, I'll use it as an example, but the point applies to all the rest. The questions are: who pays? And who decides? Moore makes the same mistake that most of us make regarding national health care systems when he says that "everyone" pays in such a system (remember the golfer scene?). The better answer to the first question is that the provincial health ministry pays, because it controls the revenue that doctors, diagnosticians, and medical service providers receive. The answer to the second question is the same: each provincial health ministry in Canada decides what medical goods and services will be available in any given year. A budget is set for the year, and the health care system has to stay within that budget. A bureaucracy is rewarded with more funds when it stays within its budget, hence the goal in any given year is to minimize costs: exactly the charge Moore brings against the "greedy" for-profit HMOs . A national health care system is simply a single HMO for everyone.
"The general philosophy that we need to reduce tax rates and broaden tax bases is being eroded by federal and provincial targeted tax relief," the study says.
"If governments remain on this tax reform path, the accumulation of targeted tax relief measures will have a significant fiscal cost, which could be better used to finance broad rate reductions. Tax rate reductions encourage greater work effort, investment and risk-taking without governments putting themselves in the position of picking winners from losers, a task at which they rarely succeed."
Political analysts say these targeted tax cuts are aimed at winning over specific constituencies that reside in politically important parts of either the country or province.
"You load up system with all these special preferences, then down the road the politicians realize they could have had a big tax rate cut instead," Mr. Mintz said in an interview.
Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press Maxime Bernier is taking a gamble. He believes that there is a large, disenfranchised voting bloc in Canada...


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subset: commoncrawl


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Formerly the Thinking Catholic Strategic Center
Confirming Culture=Religion+Politics
Is it worth it to you to keep this content coming? Take the survey, and let me know what you think it is worth to you.
Vic Biorseth, http://www.CatholicAmericanThinker.com
How, exactly, did a masturbation industry develop?
In Western thought, sex is the means to an end; in secular thought, sex is an end, and the secular man will use any means to get to that end. In the received wisdom of Western civilization, throughout it's two thousand year history, the primary physical purpose for sex is procreation, and the primary social and spiritual purpose for sex is the foundation of the family. It is therefore reserved for the married state, in which sex has another purpose, that being, bonding of man and wife, the formation of the social "glue" that binds parents more strongly to each other to form the solid foundation of the family unit.
In the received wisdom of secularism, the physical and social purpose for sex is—well, sex. It's just "natural". As we shall see, again, on another topic, secular naturalists may be seen working feverishly to defeat nature; although sex is seen as purely natural, naturalists see a need to artificially defeat all natural consequences of sex, and to control it. Just like economies, and just like societies, and just like "our" environment; secularists are, by nature, control freaks. They have to have a plan for everything, and the plan is usually of the grandiose, social variety, affecting everybody, affecting every thing.
In pushing artificial contraception, for instance, they push a program promoting acts of mutual masturbation, because that is precisely what sex with contraception is. It is an exercise in mutual masturbation, pure and simple, and the participants turn their partners into mere sexual playgrounds. There is absolutely no difference between a man spilling his seed on the ground and a man using a condom.
But, you say, the experts on the subject, the doctors, the psychologists, including even past Surgeons General of the United States, say that masturbation is good, and wholesome, and a healthy thing to do.
They are, in a word, liars.
In their defense of what used to be indefensible, the names they most frequently quote are Freud, Jung and Kinsey. You can read about all of them in the Freudianism page. You can read about where these sources and very poor or even non-critical thinking have lead the so-called experts in the Homo-Nazism page. The advice these "experts" give you can make you dead.
In America today, we cannot talk about sex without talking about pornography, because pornography has in varying degrees become and integral part of our society. The sole purpose of pornography is to sexually arouse the user of it, the more the better. It is done competitively, in a fierce market. To what end? Masturbation. We all know what pornography is. But our courts do not know, or pretend to not know, the difference between pornography and an Italian masterpiece. The courts are not smart enough, individually or collectively, to differentiate between sleaze and art in the same manner that all of the rest of us do it.
The Multi-Billion Dollar American Masturbation Industry
The same American national government that censors, everywhere, all public Christian education, art and expression (a voluntary prayer in a public school; a manger scene in front of a town hall; a cross in a public park; a picture of our Savior hanging in the local library; the Ten Commandments displayed on a judge's courtroom wall; a cross as part of the design in a state's official seal) protects and defends flat out pornography, wherever it may be found, as Constitutionally protected speech and expression. Our government, which may be seen to suppress Constitutionally protected open expressions of Christianity, protects and thereby promotes masturbation.
The result is that the current, exponentially growing Internet boom is largely driven by the almost unquenchable market for erotic stimulation subjects and web-pages and hot-links. You - and anyone - can sit down at a computer with a modem anywhere in the world and join a video "teleconference" in which you watch a woman strip, live, and know that the company providing the "conference" is making hundreds of thousands of dollars a month on this one, protected, "free speech" free market activity. The masturbation industry is huge, and growing.
Take a guess at what web pages are the most popular today. Hint: It's not the religious WebSites, although it should be. Religious Web Sites, busy as they are, get a minuscule amount of "hits" compared to the "adult entertainment" sites, which are already making billions of dollars in revenues and can't grow fast enough to keep up with demand. Amazing what official national government protection can do for an industry that ought to be illegal.
The same thing happens with cable networks; "adult entertainment" TV is making billions. Of course, porn video tapes are still available for sale or rent, and porn publishing is still going strong, as always. Masturbators pay a lot of money for this stuff. Telephone companies and companies like America Online are making huge profits from the time people spend on "phone sex" and "cyber-sex" encounters with other phone-pervs and net-pervs, describing in graphic detail what they fantasize about doing to each other.
The images are so fantastic and erotic, and there's nothing personal, no entanglements, nothing but pure erotica. The masturbator gets into it deeper and deeper, avoiding reality, avoiding all less than perfect images, seeking more and more personal pleasure. On-line peepshows and general porno is drawing other types, too. Pedophiles and prostitutes and homosexuals and child pornographers are opening and operating their own over-active Web Sites, and some very sick people are now surfing and trolling for new victims.
But even "normal" industries and entertainment are riding the economic masturbation wave. Regular TV, meaning TV not previously noted for being erotic, is getting more and more competitively erotic. Talk shows predominantly talk about perversion and erotica. Fashions are ever increasingly sensuous. Popular music videos are continuous fantasies consisting primarily of glossy, glitzy, jiggley, bouncy, and even sleazy soft porn. Feminist magazines that decry the exploitation of women in the girlie magazines display some of the most sensuous and provocative covers in the entire "normal" magazine industry.
Even Sports Illustrated has an annual celebration of masturbation in its provocative swimsuit issue. Stuff that once was known as strictly adult entertainment is now just normal, everyday, general entertainment. Prime-time sit-coms promote and even celebrate such things as illicit sex, purposeful single-woman parenting, homosexual kisses, all sorts of illicit sexual encounters and entanglements, continually cheering each other on to new "firsts," to push the envelope, to do something, anything, to gain more ground in what is clearly, unmistakably, a popular media war against what it considers to be the backwardness and the absolute horrors associated with monotheistic morality.
You can't get away from it. Dish Network advertises that I can not only block "adult" channels, but I can even get them out of the menu so that flipping through the channels will not even show that they are available. That's a lie; I can't do that through my Dish Network programming. I can block out channels, but I can't make them disappear off the menu altogether. It allows me to block questionable programming, but not questionable advertising for that same questionable programming, and thus does Dish Network do more than it's part for promoting the masturbation industry that it makes so much money from.
Nor can I block out the advertisements for the shows on the blocked channels that are presented on the regular channels. Fox News should be a good channel to watch, right? On that channel, I have seen advertisements for "uncensored wild co-ed parties", "naked model of the year contest", and most of the garbage I have blocked out on other channels. They not only advertise, but present, on the program, an annual erotic lingerie fashion show. In between Fox news segments, we're greeted by commercials of the guy who can't get the stupid grin off his face because he's taken some erectile dysfunction drug and is now showing everybody how he is permanently equipped with a perpetual hard-on. This has become the drug of choice for sexual predators everywhere. Sometimes you'll get to see this commercial every ten minutes or so. Isn't that nice?
And, that's what I get on the BEST channel available. Even Fox news channel supports the masturbation industry. I turn to Fox for less biased reporting, and what they give me is soft porn.
It gets worse. Take a look at the channels your kids like most, like MTV and VH1, and, not only listen to the "lyrics" but watch the videos. Next time you see little 9 and 10 year olds "dancing" with the girl's rear end against the boy's crotch as they simulate intercourse, you need to recognize that they are merely acting out what they see and internalize on TV, every day. Even if they don't really understand what they're doing yet, it won't take them very long to figure it out.
Go to the E (Entertainment) channel for perhaps the worst of it. It seems to be a tabloid-type show, with continuous, back-to-back factoids and blurbs about who's screwing who, who's divorcing who, who's re-marrying who, who's shacking up with who. I've even flipped through once and seen someone sitting on a toilet. And, they always have various show-biz awards programs, which are inevitably, tit contests, pure and simple. Starlets or singers or whatever compete for the most revealing attire possible, while their male counterparts pretend to be not looking and not interested. The men might be wearing tuxedos, but some among them will also be wearing pink running shoes, or a baseball cap on backwards, or whatever, just to emphasize their real disdain for tradition. The time I flipped through and saw Howard Stearn's filthy show was the time that channel got blocked out with the others.
The sole purpose for this "entertainment" is to induce extreme sexual arousal, nothing more and nothing less, and it is an extremely competitive market. We should all be complaining to the cable and satellite providers and the networks that transmit this stuff, and transmit instructions on how to block out and protect children from this "adult" entertainment, because of the insult of calling it adult. If they were honest, they would openly call what they are telling us how to block out, jerk-off entertainment. Calling it adult entertainment is an open insult to all real adults everywhere. Adults don't jerk off, and men don't jerk off. Masturbation is for really immature adolescents and those in an arrested state of adolescence with a serious self control problem. And maybe the intelligentsia.The very fact that they call it "adult" entertainment reveals that they follow an ethos that is foreign to us, and they are "transmitting" that ethos to us. Who the hell do they think they are? The American ethos that we should be living by is deeply rooted in Western Culture, with its rich Judeo-Christian moral tradition, further modified by the on-going predominantly Protestant American Experiment. What main-line Protestant denominations recommend "adult" entertainment to their congregations? And what, exactly is this foreign ethos, and where did it come from? Let me put a name to it: It is the ethos following the traditions and moral codes of BMDFP10 and the SLIMC1 . This all gets transmitted beyond our shores.
This is the image foreigners get of our "culture." How wrong are they when they call us "decadent"? If we are not in truth a decadent people, then, why is it so clear, so obvious and apparent from our TV and our movie industry and our music industry, even our advertisements, that we are, indeed, an absolutely decadent people?
It is abundantly clear to any objective observer that show-biz in general and major media television in particular opposes God. In favor of pushing the envelope, expanding the limits, and increasing the acceptability of the masturbation industry, which they prefer to call adult entertainment.
Is the notion of Romantic Love lost, forever?
What seems to be lost the most, at least visibly, is that thing that used to be called romance. You don't even see it on TV anymore. Old guys like me can remember it as prevailing; I suspect that a lot of younger guys don't even know what it is.
Romantic love involves the truest form of love, which does not involve sex. It involves words and feelings and non-sexual touching, and other expressions of love that do not lead to the bedroom. Courtship used to involve dressing nice, flowers, candy, holding hands, walks, going places together, holding hands and all the things you no longer see expressed in entertainment today. For some, it is long conversations; for others, quiet time together; sometimes it's a combination of things done together, and plans to do things, or just be, together.
The notion appears to have been crushed by the entertainment industry. Hollywood seems today incapable of making a movie without sex in it somewhere. They don't know how to do it; they can't imagine "normal" life without it. Even TV Sit-Coms today express love exclusively as sexually oriented. Love scenes are not ever made today showing a kiss in which both mouths are not wide open and there are a lot of slurping, smacking, sloppy sounds made. I'm sorry, but that is just not romantic, and for me, neither is it entertaining.
There are a blue smitherillion ways to express love non-sexually; don't follow Hollywood's lead. There is a sexual myth that prevails in male quarters regarding how "the man" is supposed to be the experienced one in the wedding bedroom, and so "the man" had better get out there and get some of this sexual experience to bring to the game. Listen, you don't need this crap; you don't need to bring any disease home to your wife; you don't need to get involved with any woman you do not intend to marry, and you do not have to have sex first. You do not need experience. The fumbling around and figuring it out may turn out to be the best part, for both of you.
It only took your great - great - great - great grandparents about five minutes to learn everything they needed to know about sex, and as a result of that five minute sex education, you are here reading this. Absolutely nothing has changed since then. There is nothing new under the sun. Sex today is exactly and precisely the same as it was thousands of years ago. Anyone who tells you they know more about it today than was known previously is lying to you, and probably to themselves.
When you find the one for you, put her on a pedestal, where she belongs. Treat her like the holy daughter of God that she is. Do not disgrace her and yourself, and do not subject her to the indignities normalized on TV and in the movies. Life is real, and true love exists, and true love is not tied to sex.
How did filth ever become adult?
Check out the Democrat Party's pro masturbation industry position. President Carter, the supposed "moral" bastion of the Party, among other prominent Dems, gave interviews to Playboy Magazine, no doubt for the benefit of the more cerebrally inclined among the slobbering jerk-off Democrats who subscribe to Playboy. Larry Flynt gets a seat of honor at the Kennedy table at big Democrat Party fund raiser dinners. It's a freedom of speech thing, see? Official Democrat Party fund raising events are held at the Playboy Mansion. Why not? Again, just like abortion, it's what they stand for and what they are about. And we are intolerant if we refuse to compromise on this issue.
Ask anyone involved in the federally protected, unregulated multi-billion dollar masturbation industry if they give monetary and voting support to the Democrat Party or to anyone else, and they'll tell you who they own. I mean pay. These are the same government clowns who seek religious censorship of all topics Christian in our Marxist schools. I mean public. At the same time, they seek to indoctrinate other people's children in the wholesomeness of and even naturalness of illicit and unnatural sex. They do it as quietly as possible, of course, keeping their true "educational" activities as far off of Christian parent's radar screens as possible.
Here's how I complained about Niel Cavuto's little nod of encouragement to the mission of Hugh Hefner and the Playmate Of The Year on the Fox News channel, in the Link Between Fox News and Playboy Empire article:
In today's entertainment culture, Playboy is seen as a milder, more "sophisticated" and more acceptable form of porn. After all, major Democrat Party fund raisers have been held at the Playboy Mansion. The Democrats have probably raised more political funds off of the porn industry than they have from the Red Chinese military, or even the abortion industry. The reason for all the high-placed respect shown to Playboy has much to do with the wildly misplaced arrested-adolescent perception that Playboy represents, not only adult, but super-sophisticated and even philosophical adult material; see?
And this misplaced arrested-adolescent perception prevails largely because Hef was so often shown smoking a pipe, and he once wrote a long, nihilistic and hedonistic diatribe called the Playboy Philosophy, which makes him, in the eyes of the semi-literate, a philosopher. And the Playboy bimbos - excuse me, I mean ladies - are all so smart, and they all have such talent, you see. And where is the evidence for all these smarts and all this talent? Well, they all have nice boobs and nice butts, and - well, that's about it. And they show, graphically, that they are quite willing to spread their legs not only for the sophisticated droolers, the ones smoking pipes and wearing tuxedos and looking unconcerned, but for the cameras, so that all drooling jerk-offs may indulge themselves in an orgy of fantasy. Isn't that sophisticated? Isn't that adult?
I submit that it is infantile, and that it is enslaving, and that it is unworthy of the attention of men, except when that attention opposes it. Hef is no different than Flynt. These crude, manipulative bastards take women who are daughters of God and they shame them, and they disgrace them, while making them feel as though they are competitively accomplishing something good, and pay them with large sums of money, material goods, and even a launching pad for some sort of show-biz career, and they do all this to them for money and fame and empire. Every woman ever born was called to a higher human dignity than this. There is and can be no worldly reward worthy of that higher dignity.Buddy, let me tell you something: For everything you do, and everything you say, someone is watching and listening, whether you are aware of it or not. Words and actions have affects on others. What we all collectively say and do, the sum of our collective behavior is a direct reflection of the sum of our individual moral and ethical standards. Men like Hef and Flynt clearly display the moral standards of BMDFP10 and Freud, Jung, Kinsey and Dr. Ruth. This standard stands in stark contrast to the honorable ethos of Western Civilization upon which America itself is based.
The Received Sexual Wisdom From On-High
Almost all of the TV channels you can click through at any time of day will be subtly or overtly promoting some sort of sensuality or sexually provocative theme or image. We had our first pro-sodomy President, Billary "I loath the military" Clinton, who ran a pro-sodomy first campaign, who tried to homosexualize the military, and partially succeeded when he settled for "don't ask, don't tell," whose personal extra-marital sexual escapades are legendary, and who in all likelihood, statistically speaking, is incubating and/or treating multiple strains social consequences.
What "don't ask don't tell" involves is the official condoning, which means promoting, of active sodomites, which means active sodomy, in the military, so long as it's all kept quiet. We have a pro-active education system, controlled and driven from above, by the state, not by the parents, that insists upon twelve solid years of sex education, distributes copies of Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy's New Roommate in order to teach the normalcy and acceptability of active homosexuality, teaches children the mechanics of safe fornication, responsible promiscuity, and protected sodomy, gives condoms to other people's children, and even goes so far as to smuggle other people's children into and out of abortion mills. Perhaps across state lines. At our expense.
If you know a professional public school teacher, ask him what need a school child has of such words as cunnilingus, analingus and felatio in his vocabulary. Will they help him to get ahead in the world? Might they come up in a job interview? Isn't it fairly obvious that modern sex education involves the teaching and promotion of various sexual techniques?
And then there are the real experts on the subject. The Freudian sexologists. One such expert gained fame some years back when she began speaking openly and frankly about sexual topics live, on the air, with call-in questions. Dr. Ruth became an overnight star, among the young, the old, and the middle aged. Everyone delighted in the sight of this matronly, dignified-looking little woman who spoke so openly, unhesitatingly and frankly on sexual matters, and who gave such advice!
In response to one question regarding anal sex, she was quick to firmly point out that the man should "never go directly from the anus to the vagina! You can give her a very bad infection that way." No kidding. The mind boggles as we wonder how long it took her to figure that one out. In Dr. Ruth we see, classically illustrated, the dignity of the pig, bound in unholy matrimony to the wisdom of the jackass, in that grand cathedral of secularism, television. People are not born into this level of stupidity, they have to be educated into it. (How do modern scientists "know" the evolutionary theory is true? They learned it as dogma in school. So did their teachers. So did I, and so did you.)
But, whether high-placed fools can see it or not, it always comes back to simple right and wrong. There is such a thing, and it is always discernable. While critical thinking may have fallen into disuse lately, it still exists, and all thinking Catholics, and indeed all Homo Sapiens are called to use it. Here is the main truth that secularism cannot stand.
There exists such a thing as objective truth that is independent of the human mind. It doesn't matter what we think about it, how we think about it or even if we think about it. It always remains objective truth.
This means that there is such a thing as absolute right, and that there is such a thing as absolute wrong. I don't care if the person at the podium is a teacher, professor, scientist, rock-star, statesman, gangsta rappa, talk-show host, anchor-man, editor, judge, doctor, lawyer, personality, sit-com star, or President.
Anyone who says that there is any such thing as safe illicit sex is a damnable liar. Period. Anyone who says that there is any such thing as responsible adultery, is a damnable liar. Anyone who says that we should work to eliminate all of our sexual inhibitions, and that this is a wholesome, healthy, good thing to do, is a damnable liar. Anyone who says that practicing chastity in accordance with our state of life, whether married, single or celibate, is wrong, is a damnable liar. Anyone who says that self control and self discipline, in all areas of life, is somehow disordered or not good or not recommended is a damnable liar. Anyone who says that homosexuality is normal and acceptable and good is a damnable liar. Anyone who says that using your mouth and your lower bowel interchangeably and alternatively as sex organs is a good, wholesome, healthy, proper thing to do, and that you ought to consider it yourself, is a damnable liar. Anyone who denies the existence of and the differences between virtue and vice is a damnable liar.
There is such a thing as right and wrong, and the world is not going to get better, and our nation is not going to get better, until you and I not only learn it or re-learn it, but, press the issue. Masturbation is wrong, and the very existence of an American masturbation industry is an absolute national disgrace.
The purveyors of this "adult" filth will complain that they are only satisfying a market need, an existing demand for their product. They lie. They make demand. They create it, generate it and feed it. They even indoctrinate "demand" into young impressionable minds.
Let us pray.
Lord, we repent of every shameful deed and thought; Lord, let us turn from our shameful ways, grant that we might return to worthiness, that we might stand for ultimate judgment in worthiness rather than disgrace and self-induced damnation. We turn from it, Lord, we repent of it and we beg You for mercy. Father, in Your great mercy, grant that we might bury all the filth, garbage and powerful, sensual images with which we've loaded our minds over the years beneath new mountains of good images, thoughts and ideas, with Holy Scripture, with Holy images, with Holy music, with decent literature and higher ideals, with prayer, with praise and glory to You, Lord, that we might never again return to even any hint of loss of self control.
Lord, that we might become true men. Grant us the grace to take charge of ourselves, to rise to the higher dignity to which we are called, to be excellent examples of decency for all younger men and boys. Let us burn all the sexually explicit material in our possession, let us block out the less than perfect TV channels, let us begin to use our eyes and our ears and our senses for good things only. Lord forgive us for ever reducing any woman or any image of any woman, in our estimation, to the level of mere material, or to any level beneath the high level of honor automatically deserved of all women.
Lord forgive us for the sin of comparing any woman to any other woman or image of any other woman in a strictly sexual way. Lord forgive us our sexually explicit language, our dirty jokes, our innuendos, and our preoccupation and participation and personal bad examples in that area. Lord, that we might gain full control of our eyes, of our dirty mouths, and control all lustful thoughts, through an increase in our prayer life.
We repent of every sexual sin, we repent of every act of actual or mental infidelity, we repent of every indecency, and we turn from it, Lord, with determination, resolve and manly commitment, and we beg forgiveness for it.
In Jesus' name we pray.
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Date: Day Thu Mar 12 12:08:52 2009
From: Charles O. Agyeman
Email: email@example.com
Location: Woodbridge, VA
I'm a 27 year-old Catholic and your website and articles are a great source of education and encouragement in life for me. The world has been blinded by the wiles of Satan. The youth especially appear destined for self-destruction, but perhaps with prayer and fasting our generation also might be saved much as God did the ancients.
Date: Thu Mar 12 16:37:09 2009
From: Vic Biorseth
Never forget Nineveh.
I too sometimes feel that my own generation is lost. But today my hope is in the youngest ones in sight; the teens who seem to be bucking the trend and recognizing the beauty, value and vital importance of chastity, in spite of all that's going on around them.
Let's keep praying and fasting, and praying in atonement for others.
Date: Mon May 25 07:17:20 2009
From: Jayadeva Dasa
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Location: Brisbane Australia
I have been trying to practice celibacy for more than a decade and praying to the kind and patient Lord of all. Articles like these make me feel many many steps closer to making a permanent end to useless wastage of energy and essential bodily fluids. I have to rest my nerves at the age of 36 simply due to years of wasting all inspired by the so called sex education I received at the tender age of 11. At least they could have waited for my body and mind to have matured (it would only have taken another 14 years) before they indoctrinated me into self hatred. I hope that I never waste my semen again.....
Date: Mon May 25 10:02:22 2009
From: Vic Biorseth
Prayer is your strongest weapon. Prayer is good for your spiritual, mental and physical well being and health. Prayer is the answer.
For the single person, the best use of time not needed for work, rest and family-social activity would be spent before the Blessed Sacrament, or before sacred images, or with the Holy Rosary in your hands, or in repeated novenas. For the couple in love, the best use of time together is in praying the Rosary together, or in going to sacred places on religious retreats.
Prayer presents a sure path to self control; when you seek and find His will and submit to it, self control goes on auto-pilot. Let the Lord be your pilot, not just your co-pilot. Put Him in charge of your whole life, and your whole life will improve. Never give up on the Lord; He will never give up on you.
Date: Wed Sep 2 05:31:34 2009
From: Vic Biorseth
Just a word of warning about the link in the following comment:
When I ran the video, it started fine, slowed down, and eventually hung. Canceling it proved problematic. It slowed my entire system and eventually caused me to reboot the whole system. Just be forewarned, and run it at your own risk.
Date: Tue Sep 01 20:00:57 2009
From: muzurimule
Email: email@example.com
Location: USA
http://lenonhonorfilms.com/WhatLiesInPlainSight.html Pertinent to the subject is the foregoing link which is a documentary on Michael Jackson's "Just Beat It" music video. A real shocker related to your subject and yet the youth are exposed to this distortion/lie all the time. Prayer is sorely needed. This is an insightful documentary and it should be spread far and wide. God bless you!
Date: Tue Sep 01 22:41:03 2009
From: Ben
Location: USA
This is a very good site; agree with all I've read so far, with one exception. While this article is right on the mark, I must disagree with your stand on contraception. There are many and varied legitimate reasons for a couple to use contraception. Thank you for a great site.
Date: Wed Sep 2 06:47:51 2009
From: Vic Biorseth
Your position is untenable and based on an argument that is not sustainable. If you agree that masturbation is bad, then you cannot move on to say that contraception is good. Use of Artificial Contraception is masturbation, pure and simple. It reduces your spouse (or illegitimate sex partner) to a thing; an object; a sexual playground; a tool of masturbation, to be used solely and exclusively to achieve sexual gratification and nothing more. It thereby eliminates the holy humanity of the spouse or illicit participator in the eyes of the masturbating user/abuser.
I submit that social acceptance of Contraception may be Satan's greatest victory in England, America and the rest of Western Culture. It is sustained and encouraged by faith-based belief in the clear falsehood of the so-called human population problem, yet another evil hoax, as is the rhetorical trick that tells you that you "cannot afford" another child.
Sometimes I wonder at the numbers of people who accept what ought to be obvious evil because it is popular, and who so rarely apply the principles of critical thinking to such clearly critical issues.
Date: Wed Jul 21 18:33:22 2010
From: Freedom
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
This website advocates theocracy. Producing or watching porn, as well as masturbating or using contraception, or having sex before marriage with many partners, is a personal choice. A lot of people out there don't believe in your fairy tales and your magical invisible imaginary "God" in the sky. We do what we want. Don't like it? Too bad. You're too busy concerned about how others live their lives. Just focus on yourself.
Date: Thu Jul 22 05:30:49 2010
From: Vic Biorseth
This Website advocates no such thing. I don't know how much you've read on it, or how well you can read, or if you can read at all, but it is clear that you have not picked up that rather obvious point. You, on the other hand, seem to want those with your atheistic viewpoint to rule us rather than represent us, to allow the tiny minority atheistic tail to wag the overwhelmingly Judeo-Christian majority dog, and impose atheism upon us all from above.
You are free to be atheist; we are free to believe. You are free to masturbate, we are free to live decently. Focusing on yourself seems to be what you do best; so, take your own advice. Go masturbate somewhere and leave the adults to their more mature conversation.
Date: Sun May 15 22:42:30 2011
From: Derrick Meadows
Email: email@example.com
Hi Vic,
I'm one of those who believe that masturbation is harmful. I am particularly troubled by an apparent Google-wide-agreement that pornography and masturbation are generally healthy. I don't know if you agree with me, but I find it very difficult to find web-based materials discussing evils of Onanism. It's like all the wisdom of sages vanished.
Can you please direct to some online sources which describe really evil consequences of self-abuse? Preferably without overly zealous rhetoric.
Date: Mon May 16 06:17:19 2011
From: Vic Biorseth
Perhaps web-based Google-wide research is the wrong place to go to find broad support for decency. I am more inclined to the more literate approach; if you haven't found enough evidences and external references in this article, try my Reference-Material link. Your reference to Onanism indicates you've already read Scripture. Probably the best resource is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Look to the Anti-Nicene and Post-Nicene Church fathers. There is a lot of external reference used in the Artificial Contraception page, and it is heavily related to what we are talking about here. Artificial contraception is, in point of fact, masturbation, in which people use each other as mere masturbatory objects and sexual playgrounds. That article is heavily documented, and it shows that there is no real difference between masturbation and condom usage, in the eyes of the Church. (I do, however, use what you probably consider to be overly zealous rhetoric.)
Date: Fri Jun 17 17:37:45 2011
From: GADEL
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Location: Tema, Ghana
You've said it all brother. This reminds me of an article I wrote about Call Girls whom I've encountered on the Internet and somehow "disrespected" and then repented and saw them as fellow human beings deserving of agape love and our prayers. You can check this article on my blog over here http://gadel4u.blogspot.com/2011/03/call-girls-are-humans-too.html
Thanks again Vic.
Pax in Christo
Godwin Delali Adadzie
Date: Sat Jun 18 13:38:51 2011
From: Vic Biorseth
You are most welcome sir.
Always stand fiercely in the Truth. As a young man, this will be a very, very difficult thing to do. As you get older, the longer you stand firmly in the Truth, the easier it will get; but it will never, never be easy. Truth makes enemies, and Truth makes many people uneasy.
Nevertheless, always stand fiercely in the Truth. Let us pray for each other in this great endeavor.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Converted Page to SBI! Release 3.0 BB 2.0.
Date: Fri Mar 07 15:38:49 2014
From: Michael
Location: United States
"I'm one of those who believe that masturbation is harmful. I am particularly troubled by an apparent Google-wide-agreement that pornography and masturbation are generally healthy. I don't know if you agree with me, but I find it very difficult to find web-based materials discussing evils of Onanism. It's like all the wisdom of sages vanished."
I could not agree more with this(and your article in general Vic). As someone who grew up during a time period where masturbation and pornography were not vilified, but actually encouraged, I have learned the evils of masturbation and porn firsthand.
I was taught that masturbation and porn were no big deal, by seemingly the entire media, and every major "scholar". So, naturally, I bought it. Yet, both always left me feeling tired, sluggish and stupid. Perhaps, most importantly they left me feeling completely unmotivated.
I had no idea the lack of motivation was related to porn/masturbation until I read about how porn causes the dopamine levels in your brain to rise to unnatural levels making every other pleasurable sensation pale in comparison.
Naturally, I was horrified and quit porn/masturbation cold turkey. Shortly thereafter, I realized why seemingly all the ancient cultures all held the same ideas about the dangers of excessive ejaculation(Tao, Hindus, Christians, etc). Once I stopped, my entire life changed. To my surprise my memory improved dramatically. My skin was no longer blemished by acne(the ancients believed acne was in part caused by sexual exhaustion) it became impossibly easy to put muscle on, when it used to be so difficult. Women also seemed to be naturally drawn to me. After I quit, I read many accounts of people who quit masturbation noticing the exact same benefits.
All of this has led me to believe that ancients were not, "prudish" or "dumb". They knew what they were talking about, and clearly possessed knowledge which has been lost in the present day. I can vouch for what they say.
I'm left wondering how much the dumbing down of America has to do with the promotion of masturbation. I'm starting to think it's played a large part.
Date: Fri Sep 26 2014
From: Vic Biorseth
Changes pursuant to changing the website URL
and name from
Thinking Catholic Strategic Center to
Catholic American Thinker.
Pulled the trigger on the 301 MOVE IT option June 1, 2014. Working my way through all the webpages. .
Date: Thu Nov 23 08:55:15 2017
From: Willie Shaker
Email: email@example.com
Location: Legion
Your post lost all credibility once you aligned it as with or against political,parties. Belief is belief irrespective of politics. When you politicize your religion, you become a prostitue of a false god. If only the Second coming of Christ will save you, then living by the way of TheCross and not the ancient scrolls must lead you. The current "leaders" of this GOP falsely claim to represent the values of Xtians, but they are the whorish money changers Jesus drove from the temple. Their greed and lust for power should be plainly evident to you by now. Keep your belief pure and free from the lies of any politician.
Date: Thu Nov 23 2017
From: Vic Biorseth
I don't align onanism or any other unnatural form of sexual gratification to a Political Party; the Democrat (Marxocrat) Party itself did that. I oppose all Political Parties, as you can see in the Breaking The Parties page. (Also, see Cultural Marxism, for how evil is taking over.) They made the issue political, and that calls for political opposition. When politics attacks my religion, I return will fire and advance. You can just pretend evil is not being legally imposed on you from above and just sit back and let it happen, but I'm not going to do that. You cannot name the sexual sin that the Marxocrat Party does not promote, champion and defend, in legislation, execution and adjudication of law.
They are destroying our once Christian nation.
If you don't want to resist that, you don't have to. You just go sit in a corner somewhere and suck your thumb, and I'll do your fighting for you.
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Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and
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Related WebPages
The Purpose of this grouping of links is to highlight the planned and purposeful moral degradation of human culture, in Western Civilization in general, and in America in particular.
The Death of Morality Pages
Beginning, perhaps, with the Reformation, with a mighty surge in the 1930s with the social acceptance of artificial contraception, social standards today are now so low as to make a harlot blush. Professional politicians of all Parties cooperate with Marxist-materialists in all other fields to actually suppress religion and the morality that flows from religion, not only in the public square, but everywhere, following the moral degradation of popular entertainment.
Refuting Free Love: the whole 60's era of Make Love Not War & Sexual Revolution. From Revolution, to Riots and Anarchy, to Sit-Ins, to Love-Ins, the horrible results demand a refuting of free love.
Artificial Contraception: Tool of Materialism with which to destroy Monotheism. Acceptance of Artificial Contraception marked the single most destructive turning point in the history of Western Culture, marking the end of moral norms, foretelling tolerance of anything at all.
The Sexual Revolution: Sexual Freedom, or enslavement and degradation? The Sexual Revolution was supposed to free us, rather than enslave us, and uplift us, rather than degrade us. It was a lie from the beginning; it degraded whole cultures and attacked human dignity.
Welcome to America's Protected Multi-Billion Dollar Masturbation Industry . That the government simultaneously censors Christian expression and protects pornography, the main product of the Giant Masturbation Industry, is a pure national disgrace.
Abortion in America: Supreme Court takes complete charge of American Government. Through decisions regarding abortion, the Court arbitrarily and without opposition, systematically undid representative, legislated law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and Made New Law.
Being pro choice or pro woman's right to choose equals being pro abortion. Saying you are pro choice, or pro right to choose, is saying you are pro abortion. Period. Pro choice equals pro abortion.
Femi-Nazi -ism: The Leftist, authoritarian Movement that commandeered Feminism. The Femi-Nazi Movement seeks to modify our language and culture, restrict our speech and press, and create and alienate yet another "disenfranchised" group.
Homo Nazi -ism assaults the Western Culture ethos of our American majority. The grass-roots Homo Nazi is for the most part a simple immoral selfist. But the homo-Nazi in the rarified atmosphere of city, state and national politics is a much more sinister character.
What does normalized, mainstreamed, open homosexuality say about us as a people? Our argument against open homosexuality is an argument for the continuance of Western Civilization, the Western Culture Ethos and the normative family.
So the Marxists get their wish again: an openly homosexual American military. An openly homosexual American military has been the goal of Secularists, Marxists and other Democrats for decades.
On Evil and Nonsense: Look closely at Nonsense, and find Evil at its root. Evil and Nonsense: deny evil and you deny right vs. wrong; which is to deny common sense, which is to invoke nonsense.
Ascendent Heterophobia & Utter Moral Depravity - the new American Guiding Ethos. The Fundamental Transformation of America, from a decent Christian nation into the grips of Heterophobia.
All the Smiling Degenerates, Looking Good while advancing Moral Depravity. The Smiling Degenerates of American Government, Happily Bringing America Down.
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IT is a piece of gel close to many a womans heart and would have remained there had it not been for a nasty piece of profiteering.
Interest in silicone breast implants has gone stratospheric since it emerged that French-made PIPs Poly Implant Prothese had been manufactured with cheap industrial-grade silicone instead of the much higher spec medical grade, causing fears of rupturing and cancer.
In the UK, focus has turned to Nagor, the country's only manufacturer of breast implants.
Where PIPs are the rather shambolic mopeds of the implant industry, these are the Rolls-Royces and they are made in Cumbernauld.
And while PIPs sold at a rather economical 50 pounds, Nagor implants cost between300 and 500 pounds the difference in this case between quality and ill-health.
Nagor national sales manager Douglas Black said: It is beyond us how you can manufacture something and make a profit to sustain yourself for the long term at that kind of price.
Well, I suppose you can if you do things in certain ways.
Nagor makes around 80,000 implants a year, mainly by hand.
In an era where almost everything is done in conveyor-belt fashion, it is intriguing to watch the care put into every one of these implants.
The atmosphere is clinical in the company's "clean room", the air regularly changed to lower the chance of dust and staff must cover up and scrub in.
The silicone comes from one of only two manufacturers in the world who make medical-grade silicone.
Every barrel is tested to make sure it complies with stringent quality controls.
Operations manager Stephen Barsanti said: "We have four validation points product integrity, user needs, bio compatibility and sterility.
"If we have a power failure, we have to shut everything down, clean it and start again the next day.
"Basically, we lose a day. But it is important that we maintain the integrity of what we are doing."
The shells of the implants are dipped in silicon several times by hand on mandrels or moulds.
When they are ready, they are removed by hand. Each one is then inflated by pressure hose and immersed in water to check for leaks before being closed off and filled with gel.
Any air is sucked out in a vacuum chamber and then any remaining bubbles are removed by hand.
The implants are oven-cured to finish them off before being packed individually for sterilisation.
They will be sent out through an air lock to protect the womb-like lab that gave them birth.
It is the type of procedure designed to reassure women there is quality in an industry which is taking a severe beating from bad publicity.
Douglas has pledged to replace free of charge any PIP implants which have ruptured. He sees himself as a man with a mission to help women who have found themselves, through no fault of their own, at the centre of this fiasco.
But he also wants to reassure them that there is quality control.
At the same time, he is adamant that some form of registry must be created to protect both patients and the industry from this sort of thing ever happening again. He has called upon the clinics and hospitals who have not yet stepped up to the mark to come forward and extend a helping hand to their patients.
He said: "The ethical companies have already come forward but, by anyone's reckoning, that only makes up 16 per cent of the women with implants in this country. That leaves 42,000 women.
"It's about time the people who provided those 84 per cent of women with their implants stopped pointing the finger and started doing something about it. They know who they are.
"People need to be helped first before we find someone to blame and we are trying to be as pro-active as we can to help these patients.
"There's going to be a cost but it can be low and its better than what is being offered out there for these women.
"Some women are being told its going to be another 2800 pounds for something that's not their fault
"Many will have already saved up for these procedures and it is going to be difficult to get that money again. We have got to stop this panic."
Douglas has already written to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, offering to help, but has yet to receive a reply.
He said: "If the Government is going to help these women as they have said they will, then it is going to cost the taxpayers money and as yet no one has approached us, the country's only manufacturer."
Nagor made their name by working closely with surgeons. They make implants for reconstructive surgery as well as cosmetic work and export all over the world.
As part of their quality control procedures, they send implants to Australia and back and test them for wear and tear.
Black is immensely proud of Nagor's products, designed to match implants with women of all different heights and sizes. He has refused orders for job lots of 20,000 because, as he points out, 20,000 women will not all be the same size and that would just be a case of surgeons putting exactly the same implant in each of them.
It is a difficult time to be in the cosmetic surgery industry but the key, argues Black, is not to shirk on quality.
His hope for the future is a registry. One already exists in the orthopaedic industry where surgeons have told him they can tell within three months if a product is going to work.
Now he wants something similar set up for cosmetic surgery.
He said: "It would holds details of the product, the surgeon and his techniques and the clinic.
"That way, if anything goes wrong, there is a record. If there is something wrong with a product, surgeons should be able to report faults and that will throw up a pattern.
"I am passionate about this. This is a great industry. We give confidence back to so many women.
"We do our job well and all I want is that others should do theirs too."


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When two storytellers get together, a fresh new blog is bound to happen!
Well hello there, Julie and Thaddeus Sharikov here, united as one, wishing to inspire and encourage in the most relevant way possible. Why and how relevant? Social media is the new reality and we embrace it! So instead of keeping our amusing adventures, our irresistible experiences, and new ideas to ourselves, we decided to rather illustrate them in our blog. A blog that is accessible to all Jesus lovers, green tea lovers, and those with a taste for new experiences.
We, together as a new family, want to share brief snapshots of our characteristic lifestyle. Our mission is to make a difference in our generation by making Jesus our priority.
Enjoy as you get lost in our enchanting pages!


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So on today's to do list it's all about making another gold colored clock hand tiara.
Isn't this just the most lovely hat or fascinator you have ever seen! It's from a site called bhldn.com. It's a wedding website, but really this fascinator has to be worn to a tea party. So pretty!
Steampunk Empress Necklace
I have to bid a fond farewell to my Steampunk Empress necklace. She has been purchased for an event in San Francisco, and will have many new adventurers with her lovely owner. That is a very fun title for that piece though so I will have to think up something equally stunning to replace it. Hummm... Off to sketch out a couple ideas.
The World Of Steam pinned this to one of their pinterest boards the other day. It just fascinates me to see all the silhouettes of dresses from some of my favorite eras lined up together, and how they evolved over time. It's really hard for me to pick my favorites, but I would have to say I am very partial to 1889 and 1887.
EJPcreations is a mad scientist of a woman specializing in creating tiaras, necklaces, and fascinators, with a noir, and gothic flair. All adornments have a hint of vampire elegance, a dash of Steampunk bravado, and plenty of Neo-Victorian sensibilities.
Here are some of the Pretties I make... Web Store
January 2019


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"Life on Bowen Island" article for VancouverMom.ca
My first guest post! Back in December, I wrote an article for VancouverMom.ca about living on Bowen Island. Here's the link: http://vancouvermom.ca/for-mom/living-on-bowen-island/ Life on Bowen Island The article talks about what living on an island is really like. It's not all romantic evenings by the fire while the storms rage… (although Read More


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No DEPOSIT, Interest FREE Finance
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New X-Line Series. This large size robotic mower with generous inbuilt features. Equipped with GPS navigation for efficient mowing of various, demanding grass areas. Suitable for larger areas up to 3200 m² and can handle steep slopes with an incline of as much as 45% (24.5°). Smart technology adapts the amount of mowing to the lawn's growth rate, enables spot mowing of a limited area of longer grass and guides the mower through narrow passages. The intuitive menu on the large, user-friendly display allows personal settings for when you'd like the machine to mow.
Robotic lawn mowing is all about reliability. Husqvarna has during 20 years of development refined its mower concept to achieve the highest level of reliability, quality and cutting result, with a minimum of assistance.
GPS-assisted navigation
An onboard GPS system creates a map of the garden, including where the boundary and guide wires are installed. Automower® will then register which parts of the garden it has covered and adjusts its mowing pattern accordingly. This will ensure optimized lawn coverage and an excellent cutting result.
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Thanks to its unique cutting system, Automower® works discreetly and quietly, when you want. Automatic charging When Automower® needs more power, it finds its own way back to the charging station.
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Thanks to the free movement pattern of Automower® the lawn is perfectly cut, achieving a beautiful, carpet-like, look. The razor-sharp blades cut the grass gently from all directions, helping it to grow strong.
Weather timer
Adjusts the working time to the lawn's growth rate, meaning that Husqvarna Automower® will maximize its mowing time during periods of strong grass growth. In sunny or dry weather, or late in the season, the mower will spend less time mowing, which decreases wear on lawn and mower.
Unique cutting system
Husqvarna Automower® cuts just a little grass, very frequently, assuring a nice, healthy lawn. Blades made of strong carbon steel pre-mounted on a robust cutting disc system, providing efficient operation and extremely low energy consumption.
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Please click BUY NOW to purchase online.
Freight cost is $60* for metro areas Australia Wide, price may differ to rural and remote areas. Free Store Pickup also available!
*Freight surcharge may apply to rural or remote areas, if you are unsure whether your area is rural or remote please call us on 03 9794 8339 for a personalised freight quote.
*This product is offered at a SPECIAL WEBSITE PRICE, which may be lower than the price advertised in store. From time to time the website advertised price will differ from the in store price. This practise allows us to monitor our online marketing campaigns. To take advantage of this great low price please remember to mention the online advertised price when in store at the time of purchase.Privacy Policy | Delivery Policy
|Working area capacity:
3200 m² / 133m² per hr
|Battery Type:
|Typical charging time:
|65 min
|Typical mow time on one charge:
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All of our products can now be purchased through our website. You will currently see a BUY NOW option on most of our products. When you click this button you will continue to the purchase page where you can quickly and effortlessly complete your order with us (it is a very quick process). All online purchases offer free store pick up from any of our 6 RedShed Superstores.
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WENATCHEE, Wash. – The Wenatchee AppleSox will add two players – one from Northwest Nazarene University, and another from Central Washington University – Head Coach AJ Proszek announced Tuesday.
Andrew Helmstadter, a sophomore catcher from NNU, and Dustin Hamilton, a junior left-hander from CWU will bring some collegiate baseball experience to the diamond this season.
Helmstadter, a native of Palm Desert, Calif., will settle behind the dish for the AppleSox in 2015. He played his high school baseball at Desert Christian Academy.
"Coach [Jason] Krohn, who was with the AppleSox last year and is the recruiting coordinator at NNU, gave me a call," Proszek said. "Andrew and Colton [Loomis] will be together a little bit and have a chance to get comfortable, and it makes that transition a little easier. Coach Krohn recommended him and knows what kind of kids we're looking for, on and off the field, and Andrew will be a great addition."
As of April 4, Helmstadter is batting .331 and has started 37 of NNU's 38 games. He ranks third on the Crusaders with 48 hits, and leads the team with 15 doubles. He has driven in 28 runs, and belted two home runs. He also is tied for fewest strikeouts amongst NNU's everyday starters, with 19.
Hamilton, a native of Castle Rock, Wash., just south of Cowlitz, is slated to be the lone southpaw in Wenatchee's rotation. He was previously at Hawaii Pacific University.
"I talked to Dustin on the phone briefly," Proszek said. "He's really fired up. I know Coach [Rob] Hippi was really high on him. He's a really likable kid with a great arm. I'm excited to have him with us."
Hamilton, a First Team All-State selection and Trico League MVP at Castle Rock High School, owns a 4.30 ERA and a 1-1 record through eight appearances and five starts for the Wildcats. He has struck out 22 batters over his 23 innings of work this season.
Wenatchee opens its season with a two-game nonleague series against the San Francisco Seals, June 4-5, at Paul Thomas Sr. Field. Tickets can be purchased by calling 509-665-6900, or by visiting: http://www.applesox.com/tickets/


text: The Ciudad Empresarial Sarmiento Angulo, an urban project spanning three city blocks in the heart of Bogota, Colombia, has begun construction. Located on Avenida El Dorado, the city's main cultural axis, the project marks the midpoint between Bogota's historic downtown and Bogota International airport. The project will create a new cultural district in the city that links together three districts of the city: Centro Administrativo Nacional, Ciudad Salitre Orientale and Quinta Paredes. Find out more about the Ciudad Empresarial Sarmiento Angulo, which was led by Theodore Hoerr while a Principal at Balmori Associates.


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Sunny Side Up
by Maureen K. Howard
Series: Lake Erie Mysteries (#1)
Published: 25 Nov 2014
"Drink in one hand, credit card in the other, and everything else will sort itself out." The school year is over and the article deadlines have been met, so best friends, Francie and June, ditch the... more info
by Maureen K. Howard
Series: Lake Erie Mysteries (#2)
Published: 20 Nov 2015
Fireworks and spectacular performances were to be expected at the Drama Divas Convention over the Fourth of July weekend, being framed for murder was not. Best friends Francie and June thought att... more info
Last Writes
by C.A. Larmer
Series: The Ghostwriter Mystery Series (#3)
Published: 07 Nov 2012
LAST WRITES is the third stand-alone mystery in the popular contemporary detective Ghostwriter Mystery Series starring writer-turned-super-sleuth Roxy Parker. Gutsy ghostwriter Roxy Parker is back... more info
The Name of the Game is Murder
by Alaine Allister
Series: A Clarissa Spencer Cozy Mystery (#6)
Published: 03 Oct 2016
Sun, fun, family...and a bingo hall murder? Clarissa Spencer's love life is heating up. And that means it's time to introduce her boyfriend to her parents. Will they approve of him? Will their s... more info
Witch You Well (A Westwick Witches Cozy Mystery)
by Colleen Cross
Series: Westwick Witches Cozy Mysteries series (#1)
Published: 01 Jan 2017
Dead billionaires are not good for business! That's what Aunt Pearl complains to Cen when the dead body is found in the cozy family inn at Westwick Corners. Still, it's not Cen's problem. She live... more info
Visit Mystery Weekly to read short mysteries!


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A recent poll found that 45% of married women plan to vote for Hillary Clinton, while only 33% of married men believe their wives will pull the lever for Clinton (see The Economist/YouGov, October 7-8). Clearly this difference bespeaks a breakdown in communication between spouses of frightening proportions. It tears at my heart to think of nuptial partners, who should be the most intimate and open of friends, isolated from each other by the cold intrusion of politics.
It's up to us as men, as husbands and fathers, to heal this rift.
Here are some questions to help you determine if your wife may be leaning toward Hillary:
- When you're explaining why the country needs the law and order that only Donald Trump can provide, does she ever break eye contact?
- Does she conveniently place the basket of orange mums to obscure your quarter-size ceramic Trump garden gnome? When you move the basket back to the other side of the driveway, does it somehow end up in front of little Trump again
- Has she recently prepared veggie burgers or any dish with quinoa?
- Did she give you an icy look when you wore your "Keep the Witch out of the White House" t-shirt to the Fall Couples Social at the club?
- Have you ever, even once, turned on the TV and found it tuned to MSNBC?
- Have you seen her reading a book?
- When you're watching a rally on Fox News, does she use the blender, or another noisy appliance, for suspiciously long periods of time? Alternately, does she put her hands over her ears and scream?
- Has she blocked you on Twitter?
- Does she not laugh when you make up fun, Trump-inspired nicknames for her friends, like "Boozy Beth" or "Stuck-up Sarah"?
If the answer to one or more of these questions is yes, you may have a problem. You'll need to take things to the next level to really understand your partner's thoughts and feelings around the election, and re-establish the trust and mutual dependence that is the foundation of any healthy marriage.
Try these steps:
- Take the Trump lawn sign from out front of your house and mount it over your bed. (Replace the lawn sign with a larger, hand-painted billboard. But be sure to check your spelling before committing paint to plywood.) Watch your wife carefully and see if she flinches on entering your newly and now rightfully politicized boudoir.
- Make gentle, even playful comments to elicit her thoughts, like, "I know Hillary is evil. I'm just not sure if she's the devil." Or, "Even good people can sometimes be fooled into committing a terrible sin by democracy."
- Buy her a diamond choker that spells out "Trump Voter." See if she wears it the next time you go out to dinner.
- One day when you are out of the house, call your home line claiming to be from a polling service (use an Indian accent). Ask her a series of questions about the economy, the environment, trade, and foreign affairs, and once you're sure she thinks you are an unbiased survey worker, slip in, "Who do you plan to vote for for president?"
If all this fails, and despite your earnest and loving efforts, you cannot determine what your wife really thinks about the election, remember that the important thing is your relationship. You must love her and care for her no matter what. You also might want to take the spark plugs out of her car on Election Day, just to be sure.
Harvey Bicks
Men's Rights Advocates for Trump


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1000 W. Kingshighway Suite #7 Paragould, AR 72450


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My name is Ben Jennings, and I am a husband, father, and pastor.
What do you do?
I am the Outreach and Assimilation Pastor at Canton Baptist Temple in Canton, Ohio. It's a great church with a heart to see people be saved, discipled, and sent out to do ministry locally and around the world. I am always looking for opportunities to help people encounter Jesus Christ and take steps towards Him. I am passionate about seeing God work in my life and in the lives of others. I'm also passionate about helping everyone I can do the same thing.
Check out my social media links to connect with me! I'd love to be a help to you!


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Comparison between the cut US DVD by Shriek Show (Unrated) and the uncut German VHS by Astro.
There's missing:
1 minute and 10 seconds = 11 scenes.
1 alternative scene = 2 seconds.
The slightly better sequel of the original film "Patrick" was released in two versions in the USA. Apart from the uncut DVD by Shriek Show there exists a cut DVD by the same label too. This version has a "General-Release-Edition" remark on the cover, while on the cover of the uncut version it says "Uncut-Release". There are no cuts due to violence in the cut version. But all scenes/shots with explicit material of genital areas or masturbation were removed.
60 min.
The iron bar comes closer to Stella's genital area.
3 sec.
61 min.
Same thing again. In the cut version there's shown a shot of the iron bar instead.
R-Rated: +2 sec.
Unrated: 4 sec.
61 min.
The iron bar pierces bloodily into her vagina.
2 sec.
61 min.
Further close-ups/wide shots of the iron bar piercing in and also some cuts on Stella screaming.
10 sec.
66 min.
The naked woman is shown longer standing at Patrick's bed.
7 sec.
66 min.
The woman starts pleasuring herself by rubbing her vagina against the bed frame.
10 sec.
67 min.
As she lies on the couch she starts masturbating.
8 sec.
67 min.
The shot on her genital area was cut.
4 sec.
67 min.
Another part of her masturbation is missing.
8 sec.
67 min.
And again. After that she turns over to ly on her belly.
6 sec.
70 min.
The naked comatose persons toss and turn in the bed.
8 sec.
70 min.
Another shot of that is missing.
4 sec.


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How Many Days until Father's Day?
Free Printable Father's Day Gift Cards
Let dad know how special he is with these free printable Father's Day gift cards. Each gift certificate template can be customized online before you print it. There are 24 Father's Day templates available. Click on any template to open the gift certificate maker.
Happy Father's Day
These templates read "Happy Father's Day."
16th of June
15th of June
No 1 Dad
Best Dad Ever
Happy Fathers Day to my wonderful and charming dad
100% Pure Super Dad
Have a Very Happy Fathers Day
For Being My Dad
Father's Day Gift Ideas
You can use these gift cards to give your dad a gift that doesn't cost you anything but will be very meaningful to dad. For example, a car wash, take out the garbage for one month instead of dad (it is it his chore), breakfast in bed, etc.


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Strauss: Entrepreneurs as 'thought leaders'
Q: I have been hearing a lot about this seemingly new term "thought leader." How does one become a thought leader, exactly? I have been in business quite a while and think that I have a unique expertise and so it would behoove me to be seen of as a thought leader. But how do I get the word out? -- Baxter
A: Back when I started writing this column 15 years ago (!), becoming and being seen as an expert (which is really all a thought leader is) was both easier and more difficult.
It was easier because there was less competition. The Web was new, there was no such thing as social media, and as such, those folks who were fortunate enough to have (or get) some sort of platform, as I was, were able to stand out a bit from the crowd.
Of course, things are much different now, and in many ways, the changes make becoming a thought leader more challenging. The biggest difference, as you well know, is that there is just so much competition out there, both in terms of things vying for people's attention, as well as the number of very qualified people who now have the capacity because of social media to share their expertise.
The good news though is that these days there are no more gatekeepers (or at least a lot fewer). It used to be that editors had to say yes. Producers had to say yes. Secretaries even had to say yes. These gatekeepers made breaking out much tougher. But no longer. Today, anyone has the tools available to become a thought leader, and doing so – even with the added competition – can be a very smart business move.
Here's why:
You will make more money. When you go to the market and choose a cereal, are you more likely to choose the no-name generic box, or Cheerios? Exactly. People like brands and are wiling to pay more for a brand. Brands convey quality, people pay for quality, and that is exactly what will happen with you when you begin to establish yourself as a branded expert.
You will get more opportunities: It is both the good news and the bad news about social media that it allows any and everyone a bullhorn. That said, when you do it right, when you have something worthwhile to say and share, people will begin to take note. You will likely get offered business and opportunities that you didn't even know existed.
It will help your business: Employees and customers alike both will appreciate being associated with a person who is seen of as a leader in his or her industry.
So, all of this then begs the question: How can you get heard above the din and start to get noticed? Here are a few ways:
1. Be authentic and have something to say: If you want to be considered an expert in your field, then you better be an expert in your field. You need to know your stuff and be able to communicate it in a unique, valuable, and interesting way.
2. Pick a platform, any platform: You can tweet, write, post, pin, comment, share, and blog. You can create videos and e-newsletters. You can self-publish a book.
3. Get the word out, again, and again, and again: Here's the deal: Because there is so much noise out there now and so many people and companies vying for attention, you have to consistently post, and then post some more. Consistency, intelligence, and creativity are key.
4. Have a great e-presence: You better believe that once you start to put yourself out there, people will check out your website, LinkedIn page, Twitter profile, and all the rest.
5. Finally, remember, it's about them, not you: What works in this brave, new e-world is giving. It is when you add real value to people's day by sharing ideas and links and posts that help them in their business or life, then you begin to get noticed and appreciated.
And yes, thought of as a thought leader.
Today's tip: If you have ever tried to get publicity for your business, you know it isn't easy. So how can you pitch effectively? Well, there's a new book out written by veteran PR agent Ed Zitron called, Here's How You Pitch. In it, Zitron shares a lot of very valuable tips, such as
• "Be human in your pitch: This is an obvious tip that's missed by many small business owners and entrepreneurs. You can and will earn loyalty and interest through being a genuine person.
• Keep it short: The average attention span when it comes to email ranges from short to non-existent. Keep it under 200 words.
• Show you passion: Whatever you write should be passionate, and written as if you're grateful they are giving you the time of day. Because you should be."
Great advice, all. Steve says check it out.
Steve Strauss is a lawyer specializing in small business and entrepreneurship. His column appears Mondays. E-mail Steve at: firstname.lastname@example.com. An archive of his columns is here. His website is TheSelfEmployed.


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Unique, Traditional, Deli...cious!
Make your own selection
In this collection, you choose your favorite flavor: Rose Petal, Orange Blossom or Lavender.
We will ship within 5 business days.
The charms of Provence!
This fresh and casual decor feels of picnic in a scenic landscape. The song of the cicadas, the blue sky and the warm sun of Provence is an invitation to take a break, pick-up a basket with a box of Calissons and enjoy life.