I don't want to be too hard on Michael Ignatieff, because falling down the memory hole of Canadian history can't be a pleasant experience. But since he's threatening to take us all with him.
I have to say that even by the standards of Canada's Alice in Wonderland politics he's sure on a strange journey.
He spends his time campaigning in places like Alberta where he'll never win a single seat. He continues to rule out the idea of a coalition.
It simply beggars belief that the Liberals would, in fact, rule out a coalition that could return them to power and defeat a Conservative government that they claim to believe is evil incarnate.
Unfortunately, the Liberals' talking points this week suggest they've learned nothing. "Liberals will campaign to form a Liberal government," they insist. "We aren't interested in coalitions."
Even though the new British government coalition has made the idea more respectable than ever.
American regulation of the offshore oil industry has been revealed as a sham. Our regulation of drilling in the far harsher North Atlantic and Arctic is said by experts to be even weaker.
And thanks to what is in effect a conspiracy between the governing Conservatives and opposition Liberals to avoid an early election, Canada’s environmental rules are about to be further gutted.
And he could use that tsunami of angry outrage to hammer drill our oil pimp of a Prime Minister.
A power crazed political thug from Calgary. A tool of Big Oil, who wants to turn Canada into Amerika. A religious fanatic, a misogynist and a homophobe. What more could we ask for eh? But what do we get from Ignatieff? A slightly revised scene from Alice in Wonderland with Iggy playing Alice:
Alice: I was just wondering if you could help me find my way.
Cheshire Cat: Well that depends on where you want to get to.
Alice: Oh, it really doesn't matter, as long as I manage to avoid an election...
Cheshire Cat: Then it really doesn't matter which way you go.
But of course it does matter. Because unless the Liberals can get their act together not even a coalition will save us.
Michael Ignatieff says the Cons have done a job on him. And he's right. So what is he waiting for to do a job on them? By launching the most aggressive culture war this country has ever seen.
Is he really content to just paint the roses red? While the fascist bullies roll over him...like they did to poor Dion.
I hope not because if I remember correctly even in Wonderland, when the shit hit the fan.
And the mad Queen went on a rampage.
And the Cheshire Cat stopped grinning.
And the White Rabbit looked at his watch and said time is running out.
As if it wasn't bad enough that I live right across from the G20's security zone.
As if it wasn't depressing enough that they're spending more than a billion dollars to protect this Shrimp and Caviar Summit.
No amount of righteous government bluster about living in post-9/11 protection paranoia, last week's bank firebombing in Ottawa or the precedent of hosting two back-to-back summits can explain how an $18-million security tab for the G20 in Pittsburgh last September, which involved 4,000 police, must balloon to a billion dollars in Toronto requiring 10,000 cops on the ground.
This is Canada not Kandahar.
Just to give Stephen Harper another expensive photo-op. Even though the money could have been spent on so many other things. Like helping poor kids, the sick, and the homeless.
As if it wasn't scary enough that I already feel like I'm living in a police state.
This is a bad photo of one of two military helicopters hovering noisily over the waterfront the other night. At three-o-clock in the MORNING.
As if all that wasn't horrible enough, now I find out they're planning to assault our ears with these fascist weapons.
Originally designed for the U.S. Navy, LRADs can emit ear-blasting sounds so high in frequency they transcend normal thresholds of pain.
That can damage your hearing with this hideous sound....
Great eh?
You know I've always had a special feeling for deaf people. One of my grannies was totally deaf for most of her life. She was able to read lips, but never learned sign language, and refused to get a cochlear implant.
So when I was a boy I learned to write, or summarize things, by writing down what other people said on pieces of paper and handing them to her. She lived in a world of silence and I was happy to be her ears.
So I never take hearing for granted, and the thought that people would deliberately target the ear drums of others horrifies me.
Anyway since it's the weekend, and I wanted to end on a happy note, I saw this video today of a baby getting his cochlear implant activated...and hearing the voice of his mother for the first time.
And I thought it was cute...
Yes indeed. As my awesome Scottish granny would have said, hearing is precious.You don't treat your own people like enemies.
Remember how I was complaining about the heat yesterday? And how I have no time for blogging because I'm being forced to spend so much time at the beach?
Just like my poor doggy.
Well I have to admit that after I read this story.
I felt a whole lot better.
But that reminds me of something else. You know how I like to tell the Canadian teabaggers who hate the gun registry, Big Govinment, and immigrants that they should move to Alberta...or Alabama?
Well it turns out I was at least half right...
Hee Haw. Hee Haw. So should they move to Alabama or Alberta?
Or would they prefer Arizona?
Hmmmm...come for the barren wasteland stay for the hospitality? So is it Alberta, Alabama, or Arizona?
The heat finally got to me today. I felt dizzy and even lazier than usual. But as I lay in my hammock under the old chestnut tree, things never seemed clearer.
Stephen Harper is a nasty monster. Dimitri Soudas is a coward.
Bev Oda is odious. John Baird is a screamer. Vic Toews is a fascist sherriff who can't count.
And in case you haven't heard about it eh? Jason Kenney is a bigot and a LIAR.
So now I'm lying there in my hammock thinking OK, we KNOW that they are the most disgusting, dangerous, and incompetent government this country has ever seen. We KNOW that they are raping our Canadian values. We KNOW that they are making a mockery out of our Parliament. We KNOW that they lie about everything. We KNOW that they want to change our beautiful Canada beyond recognition.
So now all I need to know is what are we going to do about it? Because we're going nowhere.
Even though the solution has never seemed more OBVIOUS.
Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton may want to get their minds around the controversial issue of a coalition or merger, given new national opinion poll numbers showing Stephen Harper’s Conservatives firmly locked in minority government territory
Considering today’s poll, Mr. Graves notes the two parties “enjoy 42 per cent of voter support which certainly elevates them from also-rans to clear contenders for power, perhaps even a majority.”
I've always been a coalition supporter. I've tried to be as non-partisan as possible, so nobody could ever accuse me of making it harder for the progressive parties to join forces and end the darkness of the Harper regime.
I’m not even necessarily calling for a merger or formal coalition, but the mentality in both camps MUST change. This is a fundamental prerequisite for any real change in this country.
The days of Liberals laughably calling the NDP ‘irrelevant’ when it wins nearly 3 million votes each election and holds seats, including relatively secure bastions where strong MPs are firmly ensconced, in every single region of the country, in Montréal and Alberta and across Ontario is an offensive joke. Similarly, the days of New Democrats farcically portraying the Liberals as reactionary criminals who’ve accomplished nothing for Canada – suggesting that they’re no different from the Tories must end.
I know it won't be easy to change old attitudes. I know I'm a dreamer eh? I admit it. But I simply refuse to accept that such a young country is so old and tired, it can't change with the times.
I know we can do it brothers and sisters, because we have come together before.And when I saw Liberals, NDPers, Greens, old people and young people coming together to defend our precious Canadian values it sent my spirit soaring.
I could feel the power of change, the strength of a nation awakening. And it was so AWESOME.
Remember?
Yup. Right now I'm too lazy to get out of my hammock eh? But now a full moon is shining through the chestnut leaves.
I've never watched a single episode of Glee, the popular American television series. But after reading this story.
And what the victim of this savage cowardly assault had to say.
"I want people to see the face of hate. I want them to look into me, and look at what people who hate people, and who are not sensitive to other people's needs, what it does and what it looks like."
I must say I love the way this dad in Glee nips some casual homophobia in the bud...
Because if you don't treat homophobia at an early stage it can grow like a cancer and hurt or kill innocent people.
So what would I tell the two thugs in Windsor? You miserable, cowardly, bully bigots. I wish I had five minutes alone with you so I could teach you that some gays bash back.
And what would I tell that great dad's gay son?
Hey kid...you know I love you. And I think you're beautiful just the way you are. And you know how I always say if you're gay you have to be tough to be gentle. Right?
OK. So now I just want to say.... from one gay brother to another eh?
I was in this little park today opposite the convention centre and the hotel where the G20 Summit is going to be held.
It was 31 degrees in the shade. I was handing out bottles of water to some homeless people who hang out there, to make sure they don't collapse from dehydration.
So you can imagine how I felt when I read this story.
The estimated cost for security over the course of seven days in June dwarfs the amount spent at previous international summits and is expected to surpass the $898 million spent during the Vancouver Olympics — which spanned 14 days.
The official price tag for security at last year's G20 summit in Pittsburgh was listed at $18 million US, according to municipal and U.S. federal officials.
More than a BILLION dollars for THREE days? Do you know how much affordable housing, or how many street clinics we could build with that money ?
Those miserable Con bastards. And for what I wonder? When there are so many isolated luxury resorts in this country where the summit could have been held for a fraction of the cost. Why would they hold it in downtown Toronto?
Answer: because Stephen Harper will do anything to win votes in a place where most people consider his name synonymous with SYPHILIS.
And this is just another expensive photo-up designed to make that crummy dictator look good.
Yikes. As if the fact that we're paying for his personal primper isn't bad enough.
You know there are a lot of dummies in this country who vote for the Cons because they think they're good economic managers. When in fact they are leading this country to financial ruin.
So they can cut government to the bone, and suck the marrow out of medicare.
Oh boy. I give up. You can do what you can to try to save a life, but there's no cure for STUPIDITY.
And what can you say about Prime Minister Pretty who would sacrifice the future of so many Canadians for a cheap expensive photo-op?
Except that miserable vain megalomaniac who would strut down a catwalk to try to buy votes with OUR money.
During the course of my short blogging career I have portrayed Great Nice Nasty Pretty Ugly Leader as all kinds of people and monsters, to try to keep up with his rapidly changing multiple personalities.
But I've never had the pleasure of portraying him as Chuckles the Clown.
However, that may change eh? Because this is so true.
There’s a little of Chuckles the Clown in Stephen Harper’s public preparation for next month’s G8/G20 summits. Chuckles, an elusive TV character on the Mary Tyler Moore show in the ’70s, explained his success and philosophy as; “A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants.”
In the absence of a coherent foreign policy, the Prime Minister is improvising. The result is not esthetically pleasing.
Yes,there are lies, damn lies and statistics. But its as demonstrably certain that access to safe abortions is an essential part of any effective international strategy as it is that the Prime Minister is using the twin summits to play domestic politics.
Playing politics with the lives of poor people. Making Canadians look like criminals.
And to think it all started like this...
Just another desperate attempt to make Stephen Harper look like a nice guy.
Gawd. When will those Con primpers give up ? When will they realize you can't put lipstick on a pig nun?
Oh well. James Travers did forget to mention one thing. The sad end of Chuckles the Clown.
He went to the circus parade dressed as a peanut, and was shelled by a rogue elephant.
Despite the odds in favour of the most right-wing and reactionary government in living memory retaining its hold on power in a federal election likely in less than a year, it appears to be business as usual for progressive Canadians and the parties they support.
The challenge now is for Liberals and New Democrats to seed the soil for coalition. We need an honest dialogue about the lay of the land, the likelihood of no party winning a majority, and the need to balance partisan interests for the good of the country.
The coalition elephant in his room that keeps him awake at night. The one thing he fears the most, because he knows it could reduce him to the size of a peanut. And drive his Cons from power FOREVER.
Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are fear-mongering again over the spectre of a deal between separatists, socialists and Liberals, declaring that the “coalition risk has returned to Canada.”
Yup. The Cons are running scared. The time to unite is NOW. Because these Cons klowns are turning our country into a fascist circus.
Well today was May 2- 4 Day in The Great White North. A day to celebrate the unofficial beginning of Summer, fire off fireworks, or just get drunk.
And why not eh? Because it's also the day when English Canada gets down on all fours and acts like a colonial poodle corgi.
By calling it Victoria Day after this dead English Queen.
A ghastly grim figure who never set foot in Canada, and somehow managed to come to symbolize both British imperialism AND sexual repression.
Even though the hideous Hanoverian herself was as horny as a bunny.
Which is why I'm so happy that in Quebec, they call it Journée Nationale des Patriotes or National Patriots's day.
To honour the Canadian/Canadien heroes who tried to tried to drive the British army out of this country, in the name of democracy.
I mean really eh? Who would you rather honour?
As for me, when I see Canadians haul down our flag and raise the Union Jack I shudder. When I hear them play God Save the Queen before O Canada I cover my ears and hum loudly. When I see the way some people in this country slobber over the monarchy it makes me want to VOMIT.
When (the Queen) visits Parliament Hill on Canada Day in just over a month, federal rules dictate that the Maple Leaf flag be lowered from the Peace Tower because her personal flag takes precedence. That's not good enough for this grand nation. At the Vancouver Olympics, we battled hard to put our flag on top. In Ottawa, bureaucrats insist we take it down. It's an insult to demote the symbol of our country any time, much less on the First of July in the capital.
British monarchs have bumped Canadians off our coins for over 140 years. Incredibly, a Canadian has never graced the front of a Canadian coin. That's not good enough. This glorious country should be celebrating its own people on coins. Even tiny Jamaica, a monarchy under the same queen, manages to honour national heroes on its pocket change.
It is about time we made this holiday Canadian, and honoured OUR heroes.
It's time we told the British Crown tah tah, bye bye, au revoir. Say hi to the corgis.
It's time we became a real country.
Oh yeah...one more thing. Since I'm presently living in English Canada what did I do today?
Pope Benedict XVI yesterday condemned gay marriage and abortion as “among the most insidious and dangerous challenges” to society.
Meeting Catholic charity workers at the shrine, the Pope called for “defence of life” and “indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman” in response to what he described as the dangerous threats of gay marriage and abortion.
And this did happen:
So now that I think about it eh?
"The Pope is fast losing all his sense of moral priorities. Compared to war, poverty and racism, gay marriage is a minor issue. It is not worthy of the Pope's moral outrage. In a world filled with hate and violence, he should be encouraging love and commitment, not denouncing it."
Oh boy. Sometimes it's not easy being a gay guy. First my beloved Montreal Canadiens get hammered by the goons from Philadelphia. Which depressed me deeply.
An outgoing gay rights activist is recovering from a vicious mugging that police describe as having “overtones of a hate crime.”
Chris Rabideau, 26, suffered a concussion, a broken nose, a swollen right eye and bruising on his face and neck when two male robbers beat him unconscious on Friday morning.
Let me get this straight... if you'll pardon the expression. A motley group of scummy politicians, homophobes, and Greater Israel lobbyists puts pressure on the Pride Committee, and they cave because they can't afford to lose any more sponsors. How humiliating ....and INFURIATING.
Gimme a break. I love the Israeli people as much as I love the Palestinians. I hate anti-Semites as much as I hate homophobes. But criticizing the brutish and un-Jewish policies of the Israeli government is not anti-semitic.
And anybody who says that this parade has ever been hateful against ANYONE...
Should get his or her head examined. Because if these bigots and fools lose any more I.Q. points we'll have to WATER them.... with our super soakers.
On the other hand I'm not too impressed with the Queers Against Israeli Apartheid group either. I recognize that the Israeli-Palestinian struggle is the central event of their lives. I identify with their oppression. Just like I identify with the Jewish struggle for survival.
But Gay Pride Day is the day when we remember OUR cause, and OUR martyrs.Like the millions of gays who live in fear in Arab countries, and the ones who are routinely butchered by the thugs from Hamas. And this group doesn't. Not even for ONE day.
You know there is a tendency in some progressive circles to downgrade our gay struggle, to stick us at the back of the bus. Even though we are the most persecuted minority on earth. I don't accept that horseshit from straight groups, so I'm not about to accept it from a queer one.
Not when gay people are being attacked right here in Canada...
And Stephen Harper's foul Cons are waging war on the rights of gays and women.
Oh well. At least this pathetic controversy has convinced me of one thing. I'm going to have to be a volunteer.
Great eh? There goes my Pride Weekend. Bye bye party, hello garbage detail.
First the Canadiens fold. Then the Pride Committee caves. Then the homophobes celebrate. Now I'm condemned to wield a broom instead of doing a glamorous job like security because Sébastien says I like to fight too much?
Oh boy...I mean oy vey. As I said in the beginning.
For the last few months he's been loading women into cattle cars and preparing to ship them back to the 1950s. Or condemning poor women in developing countries to death.
But now he says WHO? ME? a MISOGYNIST MONSTER? There must be some mistake.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he opposes any new abortion law for Canada and will vote against any of his backbenchers' attempts to bring in such legislation.
"My position is quite clear: I will oppose any attempt to create a new abortion law."
And no doubt some will believe him. Even though as Lawrence Martin points out it's all part of his small tent politics of division.
Nowadays, even more than before, they’re into small-tent politics, the kind of thing that makes base supporters comfortable. That base is barely a third of the electorate, but owing to fractionalization on the left, a vote haul of this range is good enough to win.
So while a big majority of Canadian women might be pro-choice, there are probably enough anti-abortion advocates to cover off the one-third number the party needs. Conservative policy-making or shading in other areas such as gun ownership, climate change, gay rights and the Middle East can be done in a similar cynical optic. The biases of a one-third minority become triumphant. Small-tenters carry the day. Wedge politics – the politics of polarization – is the way.
The latest polls show that 30 percent of Canadians support his war on abortion. And that 34 percent would vote for him if an election were held tomorrow.
Which means that he's already done enough to convince his SoCon base that he's one of them. He has them in the bag. And all he needs to do is get another five percent from another group, to get the majority he craves to restrict abortion rights, eliminate gay rights, stack the Supreme Court with religious extremists, and change Canada beyond RECOGNITION.
All he needs to do is convince those who say don't trust him with abortion, but hate the gun registry, that he's not as bad as others say he is.
That he's just a good hockey dad...with pancake makeup.
And a harmless Beatle's LOVER...
But who can blame him eh? Because it worked for him last time. When he played the piano at the National Arts Centre a lot of Canadians, including women voters, swooned over him. And propelled him into majority territory almost overnight.
So will it work for him again this time? Who knows? All I know is that he won't fool me.
Because I judge a Prime Minister by his deeds not by his words. His record stinks of misogyny and homophobia. And I wouldn't trust ANYTHING this monster says.
And besides I've seen this movie heard this song before and it's always the same old thing.
First he does something really disgusting. Then he puts on his Mr Nice Guy mask.
Then he plays the piano.
And then the mask falls off...
Yup. I hope Canadians aren't fooled by Harper's new/old charm offensive...or his pathetic rock star groupie act.
Because he is still the most dangerous political leader in Canadian history.
And no decent person in this country will be safe.
What more can I say about this cruel inhuman sentence?
Except that the verdict is truly a "gross indecency." The judge of this monkey court should be charged with attempted murder.
The first same sex couple in Malawi to seek marriage will now join a population of 12,000 inmates scattered throughout the country's 23 prisons. The prisons were intended to house half that number, and high court judge Duncan Tambala once described them as "hell on earth."
"I don't know whether they will survive..."There are no blankets, no food and the prisons are overcrowded. They face a tough time."
Before the British came and conquered Malawi, there were no laws against homosexuality. These laws are a foreign imposition, they are not African at all.
The missionaries preached a harsh, intolerant Christianity, which has been so successfully internalised by many Africans that they now claim homophobia as their own culture and tradition.
And Malawi's slogan "The Warm Heart of Africa" is just a cruel joke.
I hope these two brave men survive their ordeal. But even if they don't their little love story has had a huge impact. It has helped expose homophobia once again as an evil and crazy thing. It has made us want to fight it even harder.
And I'll never forget how dignified they were as the foul mob howled at them...
Or what they said before they were sentenced:
"I love Steven so much. If people or the world cannot give me the chance and freedom to continue living with him as my lover, then I am better off to die here in prison. Freedom without him is useless and meaningless."
"We have come a long way and even if our family relatives are not happy, I will never stop loving Tiwonge."
Because that's what it's all about eh? They can punish our love but they will never stop it. It makes us strong.
Even when it hurts.
Cue Ian Curtis of Joy Division, who committed suicide thirty years ago this week...
At a time when I sometimes have trouble recognizing my Canada. Because although it is so beautiful so many things I see these days are so ugly.
Like a provincial government defending those who would discriminate and humiliate gay people.
Saskatchewan's top court has reserved decision on legislation that would allow marriage commissioners to say "I won't" to same-sex couples who want to say "I do."
Or a great organization like Planned Parenthood waiting helplessly to become the latest victim of the Harper government's evil war on women.
In London, International Planned Parenthood Federation is waiting for a call from Canada that will preserve life-saving programs that help 31 million women and children.
But nearly a year after the U.K.-based organization tried to renew its $18 million grant – and on the eve of a G20 summit Harper has focused on maternal health — the line from Ottawa is silent.
Or so many in English Canada, including some progressives, still debating whether Stephen Harper is really a threat. Even though nobody can predict what he might do if he ever got a majority.
If a prime minister is to be judged by his deeds rather than by his words, one should not count on Harper to stand against the anti-abortion tide of his caucus.
At a time when all of this is going on, I can't tell you how crazy happy I was to read this.
In a concerted broadside against Ottawa, Quebec legislators have unanimously challenged the Harper government’s stance on abortion and asserted women’s right to choose.
“Abortion is an inalienable right and the consensus expressed in the National Assembly reflects the consensus on this issue in Quebec society...That battle is over and here there is no turning back.”
Or how proud I am to be a Quebecer.
They passed a gay rights law thirty years before the rest of Canada did. They honour the memory of women killed by guns. They provide a good but affordable daycare program. They are building a whole bunch of new shelters for battered women. They have a government task force on homophobia. They reject harsh punishments and rehabilitate their juvenile delinquents better than anyone.
And now they are telling the religious extremists and the Harper government where to get off.... 109 to ZERO.
Stephen Harper knows that, that's why he's planning to campaign against Quebec in the next election, and his AmeriCons are already muttering about a "separatist coalition."
As if Canadian progressives didn't have a right to join forces with a people who not only share their values they are keeping them ALIVE in the darkness. But then Harper knows what so many forget. That if Quebec ever left Canada this country would be Conservative. FOREVER.
Just like Britain would be Conservative if my beautiful Scotland ever seceded.
Yup. The Québécois. Understand them. Embrace them. Join with them to protect our precious Canadian values. Celebrate them like I do.
For they are truly SPECIAL...
And I gotta feeling that if they are ever forced to leave this country because they don't recognize it anymore.
He may be the ugliest, most sinister Prime Minister in Canadian history.
But isn't it nice to know that he still has a primper to make him feel pretty? And that we're still paying for her.
The Public Accounts of Canada list an M. Muntean travelling among the prime minister's entourage at taxpayer expense for five trips abroad in 2006-07, five in 2007-08 and six in 2008-09. The data for 2009-10 is not yet available online.
A government source confirmed that taxpayers pay for Muntean's hotel and airfare when she travels with Harper, but the party covers all her incidental expenses.
Muntean assists Harper with everything from co-ordinating his suits and ties to picking lint off his jackets and overseeing his makeup and his hair for major speeches and TV appearances.
You know the way I see it... anyone whose job includes picking the dandruffspittle lint off Harper's jackets deserves all the money she gets.
And a hockey dad does have to look pretty in pink at the rink eh?
Having a full-time personal groomer who travels the globe with the prime minister is a new development in federal politics. Harper is the first leader to employ such a primper on staff, an odd juxtaposition given the guy-next-door, hockey-dad persona the prime minister likes to cultivate.
On the other hand Jason Kenney and John Baird polish his ugly ass at least three times a day for FREE.
So I want my money back !!!!!
Athough I suppose there's a bonus eh? The next time she he performs in public instead of singing "With a Little Help from My Friends."
He can sing "With a Lot of Help from My Michelle."
I was planning to write a post about this staged porker show.
The 30-year-old student from Winnipeg’s Red River College wanted to talk to the Prime Minister about the environment. She wanted to ask about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and she even censored herself by making her question a little tamer in hopes it would be picked. It didn’t happen.
She wasn’t the only one disappointed, either. Two students interviewed by Le Devoir, who did not want their names used, told the Quebec newspaper the questions they posed to the Prime Minister were re-written by his team.
They pointed in particular to the lone question on maternal health. “The initial question included mention of abortion but it as rewritten to remove the controversial passage,” one of the students indicated, suggesting it was altered by the “people in Stephen Harper’s office.”
Because is it really possible to be more totalitarian and cowardly than that?
Stage-managing events is part of any leader’s political arsenal, but come on – are we really being led by a man too chicken to answer the genuine, spontaneous queries of a few wonky kids. What a coward. Ooooo, our poor wittle Pwime Minister is soooo afwaid of what those mean wittle childwen might ask him. WE MUST PWOTECT HIM!!
How sad it must be as Prime Minister to live in constant fear of being exposed to a query that hasn’t been massaged by Dimitri Soudas or bought a drink and tongue-kissed by Mike Duffy. The last time Harper was exposed to a genuine question, it ended with the words: “…fries with that?” And then Dimitri got out of the limo, berated the drive-thru cashier for his impudence and rewrote the question as, “How great are our Olympians again?”
So now I just want to say that a Prime Minister who is scared of questions from kids, and cowardly enough to attack the women and gay people of this country is capable of ANYTHING...
Oh boy. Does anybody remember what it was like when this country had a Canadian government and a REAL leader? Because I don't.
How low have we fallen. When did we come to accept these totalitarian pantomimes as normal?
Gawd. Somebody please pwotect him ...and us... before the bwubble BWURSTS...
If you want to get an idea of just how much Stephen Harper's decision to re-open the abortion debate has fired up anti-abortion activists, consider the case of Cardinal Marc Ouellet. Because he's so giddy with excitement he's losing his bearings. Or losing his pedals as we say in Quebec.
Last Thursday he was in Ottawa thanking Stephen Harper for refusing to fund safe abortions for women in developing countries. And asking him to do even MORE.
"We support this stance of the government not to finance abortion in countries of the Third World. But we would like some more courage, to do something more in Canada in defence of the unborn."
And was warmly applauded, by eighteen Con MPs.
So on Saturday he went even further, but this time the shit hit the fan.
Politicians and women's groups in Quebec lashed out Monday at one of Canada's highest-ranking Roman Catholic officials for saying abortion is never acceptable, even in cases where a woman has been raped.
Quebec's status of women minister said Ouellet — who is also the archbishop of Quebec City — attacked decades of work by women who strived to get the right to abortions.
"We'll never go back to knitting pins. Never. This issue is settled," Christine St-Pierre told reporters in Montreal. "(Ouellet) added fuel to the fire by saying even in case of rape, (abortion is unacceptable). Women have fought and won that battle and it's settled."
Oops. I guess he forgot he was back in Quebec eh? Where women's rights are taken seriously. And ALL the parties in the National Assembly agree that after 300 years of being told what to think by the Catholic Church they're not going back to La Grande Noirceur...or The Great Darkness.
Oh boy. How I wish the opposition parties in the Commons had the guts to stand up and say the same thing. LOUDLY.
But I guess I'll have to settle for what Patrick Lagacé said in La Presse.
He calls the Cardinal Kazem Ouellet after the Iranian Mullah who claimed that scantily clothed women caused earthquakes.
He talks about the heroic work that many Catholic priests and nuns do, by ministering to poor people, gays, and other marginalized communities. Treating them kindly and making them all feel welcome.
It's these priests and nuns in Montreal or Kinshasa that Cardinal Ouellet is stabbing in the back.That's the real drama. The good deeds of churches are constantly sapped by the bastards of the Vatican like Ouellet.
And he ends this way:
The Cardinal is a fundamentalist. That thing is known. From now on anybody who shares a political platform with him, must be treated as an accomplice of the fanaticism of Kazem Ouellet.
Yikes. The Cardinal must be wishing he was back in The Great Darkness.
Stephen Harper must be wishing he already had his Great Dark Majority. Because he ain't going to get one now.
But as for poor little Simon eh? He says no more knitting pins ever again. Tabarnac.
