Probably the former. Yes, families where both parents are present in the children's lives are more stable and ultimately create a better environment for children, but Grove is implying that parents need to not only be married for children to thrive, but the man needs to be working and providing ("responsibility") for his young while the woman stays home and cares for them. Why not promote a society where single mothers can provide for their children on their own? Grove says that the Conservative government will provide a maternity nurse service for families who need help during the first days after childbirth, but there is no mention of this service being available to single mothers (or fathers) who have a newborn. An emphasis is placed on the relationship between the father and mother, implying that they are together.

And what does Grove think of women's magazines? While he condemns lad mags' presentation of a "narrow conception of beauty and a shallow approach towards women," he praises women's magazines (and their publishers) for addressing their readers "in a mature and responsible fashion." So, being obsessed with materialism, being fearful of any beauty "imperfection," and constantly being reminded that the attention of men is necessary to live a happy lifestyle is "mature"? Has this dude ever looked at a women's magazine?

Lad Mags Linked To 'Social Ills' [BBC]
'Lads Mags' Condemned Over Images Of Women [Telegraph]
Poll" Do Lad Mags Make Men Feckless? [Guardian]

• New York City police arrested Al Sharpton, Sean Bell's fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, and hundreds of other protesters today for staging prayer sessions at the exits of Manhattan in protest over the acquittal of the cops that shot Mr. Bell. Because, obviously, inconveniencing others to protest the loss of life means you should spend time at Rikers. Why did they have to make me like Al Sharpton? [NY Times]
  
• Hillary's staying in the race despite the hellishly long odds, hoping that Barack will fuck it up and she can convince the superdelegates to anoint her the candidate. [NY Times]
  
• To that end, she had an unannounced meeting in Washington with many of them behind closed doors. There's nothing sketchy-looking about that to the average voter though. [The Atlantic]

• And, goddammit, I find myself agreeing with Bush's threat to veto the "Democratic" housing crisis bill because it's a huge giveaway to shady mortgage lenders at the expense of taxpayers. Yes, that's right, the Republican butt-buddy of industry is criticizing the Champion-of-the-Little-Guy Party for their giveaways to industry. What the hell is happening in the world today? [Washington Post]
• I mean, a Bush Administration flunkie may actually testify before Congress about some shit they pulled! [Washington Post]
• But we resumed ritualized state-sanctioned murder last night. [NY Times]
• The death toll in Burma is likely to rise, and the junta doesn't give a shit about the people anyway so they're procrastinating on letting aid workers in. [Washington Post]
• Lebanon's having violent protests again. [LA Times]
• People are making souvenirs for Jenna Bush's wedding to sell to tourists. Fucking Marriage Industrial Complex. [Fox News]
• Oh, and our government is spending money to try to catch illegal immigrants trying to leave the United States. [LA Times]
• Not that any of that will stop conservatives from being happier by rationalizing away inequality. [LiveScience.com]
• Guess the rest of us will just have to stay frustrated and fatigued. [Reuters]

Dorries' calls America "The Abortion Capital of the World" because the rate of abortion per 1,000 women is 19.4 to Britain's 18.3 (Australia's is the highest in the world, at 20.0). The Daily Mail has a chart comparing abortion laws in 9 different countries; in it, the newspaper lists the "Upper Limit" of legally-acceptable abortions in the U.S. to be 26 weeks. But the reality is that getting an abortion after 12 weeks in many states is outright impossible.

According to NARAL, the pro-choice organization, "23 states have unconstitutional and unenforceable bans that could outlaw abortion as early as the 12th week of pregnancy, with no exception to protect a woman's health." In addition, "15 states have unconstitutional and unenforceable near-total criminal bans on abortion." Zoe Williams points out that "If you really wanted more abortions to take place earlier in the pregnancy, then you would work towards improving access to terminations on the NHS." Similarly, if Americans really wanted fewer late term abortions, they would provide better sex education in public schools and easy and cheap access to birth control. As we said earlier, 87% of counties don't even have access to an abortion provider. And anyway, Dorries is just picking on America because we're so loud and crass and angsty over the abortion issue. If she were really being accurate, she'd go after those abortion-happy Aussies, who "kill babies" even more than we do.

Britain Is 'Becoming The Abortion Capital Of The World' Claims Tory MP Fighting To Lower Legal Limit [Daily Mail]
Fact, Fiction And Foetuses [Guardian]
Abortion Bans After 12 Weeks [NARAL]
We Had Our Babies Under The 24-week Abortion Limit - And They All Survived [Daily Mail]

Earlier: Pro-Life Teen Says "I Feel Like We're All Survivors Of Abortion"

Sharon Soon of Conservatives With Attitude
"I have always had a policy of not dating liberals, but once, after a bad break-up, I dated a couple of liberal guys...First of all, they don't have the same values and I find that to be a fundamental problem. I know a lot of people are willing to accept that, but I'm not. Their whole world view is different from someone who has conservative values and traditional values as a way of life. Being focused on yourself, and your rights, and materialism, and no ultimate sense of morality — because I guess when you believe in a more secular way of life, a more liberal viewpoint, it's all about what you can do for yourself and how you can be happy...and you don't have any belief in absolute truth or religious principles to guide how you live. You get guys who are selfish and into themselves and don't care so much about humanity, other people, or me — that just leads to a lot of problems. I also have a problem with guys who are into things like getting completely trashed and doing drugs..."

Dr. Melissa Clouthier
"I wouldn't like take someone on a first date to an amusement park because you'd be stuck all day together. And even too expensive of a dinner on a first date? ...Because where do you go after that? You take her to the nicest restaurant in town because she's super hot and you want to impress her? Then it turns out you have no conversation, so you wasted a boatload of money and two, if you do like her, where are you going to take her next time to beat that?"
Michelle Oddis of Human Events
Yeah, in the past year, I think I've dated one or two [liberals]. There is usually an issue there with religion, which is kind of frustrating, because you're not necessarily going to go out on one or two dates with someone and think that you're going to marry them. But, with long term goals, how you're going to raise your kids, whether you're going to bring them to church or not, you wonder if that person is going to show the same values — there tends to be a difference there with liberal guys. Another turn-off with liberal guys, at least for me, tends to be 2nd Amendment stuff. Gun rights? I think it's kind of wimpy when guys don't think people should be able to protect themselves.

Dawn Eden, author of The Thrill Of The Chaste
...My experience with [liberals] is that superficially, they may be more fun to be around. They're a bit looser and more relaxed. They make an effort to be more sensitive, but the sensitivity only goes so far. It's easy for a man to keep this illusion of being a great, sensitive romantic if he knows he's just going to sleep with you and then say good-bye. Anybody can be Mr. Love God for one night or one week or one month.

Karol Shenin of Alarming News
"The first date should be all about "could I have a 2nd date with the person." Do we have anything to say to each other? Does he make me laugh? Is she hot? Anything that has interaction would be ideal for a first date."