National Post

When rape results in pregnancy, it’s something ‘God intended to happen’: GOP senate candidate in debate
Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said Tuesday when a woman becomes pregnant during a rape, “that’s something God intended.”

Mourdock, who’s been locked in one of the country’s most watched Senate races, was asked during the final minutes of a debate with Democratic challenger Rep. Joe Donnelly whether abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest.

“I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God. And, I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen,” Mourdock said. (Indiana Debate Commission / The Associated Press)

Women don’t get pregnant from ‘legitimate rape,’ Republican Senate nominee says
Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri, caused a public outcry Sunday over his claim that victims of “legitimate rape” rarely get pregnant because the female body can prevent unwanted pregnancies. The Republican, who is running against Sen. Claire McCaskill was made the unusual claim to defend his opposition to abortion rights for rape victims.

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in an interview posted Sunday. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.

UPDATE: Republican Congressman says he ‘misspoke’ when he said women rarely get pregnant from ‘legitimate rape’

Gary Clement’s Week in Review for June 5 to June 11 

Audit report: MPs left in the dark on total costs of G8/G20 summits
A Cup full of controversy
Christopher Hitchens: How Weiner and Edwards lost control of their private parts
Goodspeed: Iran may be two months from bomb, two new studies say
Syrian army round up hundreds in northern town
Much ado about the Senate’s rebel page

Michael Moore lauds rogue page
Quietly hoisting a ‘Stop Harper’ sign in the midst of the Throne Speech may have cost Brigette DePape her job, but the protest has gained her some fans in the U.S., including rabble-rousing filmmaker Michael Moore.

Mr. Moore has spent the weekend gushing over the 21-year-old rogue page. On Sunday, he posted a big photo of Ms. DePape carrying out her act of civil disobedience on his website above a bold red headline: “Canada Gets Warmer.”

“For a young person to do that and to do it peacefully, and quietly and with grace, I thought it was a very powerful moment,” Mr. Moore said in a statement on his website. “Every now and then there is an iconic moment where an individual takes action, and it inspires others … I think that Canada and Canadians probably need to put aside the full respect thing and get to work on preventing their government from turning into a version of ours.” (Photo: Chris Wattie/Reuters)

Harper plays Canadians for suckers
Over the last five years, anyone inclined to rationalize Stephen Harper’s latest foray into decidedly non-conservative territory always had the minority government to point to. His hold on power was tenuous, one could say, so there were times he just had to choke down his principles and take action to protect his party’s station.

He didn’t like doing these things, you see, but they just had to be done. Couldn’t be helped. Hold your nose, look away, and await the day when this unpleasantness was no longer necessary.

That day was supposed to have arrived on May 3. But as Wednesday morning’s events in Ottawa have made brazenly clear, the Prime Minister is not about to do a damn thing differently. Those of us who thought he might? There’s a word for that: suckers. (Photo: Chris Wattie/Reuters)

Lorne Gunter: New cabinet more of the same — for good and bad
John Ivison: Sowing the seeds of discontent in the new Tory cabinet