Andrew Scheer has always tried to avoid saying anything that might reveal how he really feels about the abortion question, and the rights of women. And with good reason. For if Canadians knew how much of a hardline social conservative he is most of them would be appalled. But it's getting harder for Scheer to avoid talking about abortion, now that some of his fellow SoCons in the U.S. are on a holy fascist rampage. And since so many of his MPs recently attended an anti-abortion rally on Parliament Hill, Scheer is now clearly on the defensive.
Yesterday, I wrote about a Globe article where Andrew Scheer claimed that him and his Cons were more tolerant than the Liberals. And I wondered whether Scheer was losing his mind, and why the Globe would print such nonsense. So I'm happy to see the Globe is now trying to make up for that. And for Scheer and his Rebel acolyte Hamish Marshall it couldn't be more devastating.
Andrew Scheer's call for freedom of speech on all university campuses, or else, is still up on all Con websites. But it's looking a little tattered, and so is Scheer. After his clumsy attempt to use the case of that teaching assistant at Sir Wilfrid Laurier university, as yet another wedge issue with which to attack Justin Trudeau. Only to have that absurd controversy first fizzle. And then blow up in his face....
The night Andrew Scheer was elected Con leader I remember thinking how little I knew about him, and wondering why the media had failed so miserably to let us know who he really was. I knew he was a professional politician, I knew he had been a lousy Speaker who always tilted in the same rightward direction like the leaning Tower of Pisa. I also knew he was a hardcore social conservative, a man with a visceral hatred of gay people, and liberated women. But one thing I could never figure out was why he was making freedom of speech his biggest or fiercest issue.
As you may have heard, Andrew Scheer has unveiled his shadow cabinet. And although I didn't expect much, since it was cobbled together from the ratty remains of the Harper regime.
The ones who survived the great cleansing, the ones who are still going after the cheese.
I have to admit that this Con shadow cabinet, or collection of "shadow ministers" as Scheer likes to call them, has exceeded my expectations.
Because it couldn't be more mediocre. Or more monstrous. Or like Scheer himself, more sinister or more shadowy.
Almost every day of my life I read about the cruelty of religion, its ignorance, its bigotry, its barbarism. But most of the time I just shake my head and don't say anything. For what's the point eh? People will believe what they want to believe, there are many decent religious people, and since I have seen how it can comfort the dying, and those who love them, I try to ignore its atrocities, and keep my mouth shut. But not today. For this is murder.
About five years ago I made this button of Rona Ambrose. So I'm glad to see that my confidence in her was fully justified. Canada’s minister for the status of women joined nine other Conservative cabinet ministers and dozens of backbenchers in voting in favour of a motion to study the rights of the fetus, even as the Prime Minister’s Office suggested it is time to move on. Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth’s motion to have a committee look at when human life begins was defeated 203-91 in a vote on Wednesday night. So I can wear it again.
Oh. My. Gilead. When I saw those women in red on Parliament Hill today, I thought the Harper Cons were getting ready to re-enact their favourite scene from The Handmaid's Tale.
When the women are brought before the men, told to be submissive as Lord Harper's missionary church commands them. And a gnarly old man gets to grope their rights, and instructs them to breed or ELSE.
I must admit that when I first saw the battle over abortion raging at Progressive Bloggers, my first instinct was to duck and cover. Because I've seen it all before, and it always ends badly.
It's the kind of fight where the one who tries to break it up ends up in hospital. And everyone loses, except the real enemy.
But now that I've found my courage at the bottom of a bottle. Even though I don't usually drink. And now that I've written my will, I figure I have to say something before it gets even worse.
Well so much for Mother Harper, the friend of women and children. He will fund Planned Parenthood. But only in countries where abortion is illegal.
International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda has decided to approve a proposal by the International Planned Parenthood Federation to provide sex education and contraception in five developing countries. The funding is worth $6 million over three years for Planned Parenthood to work in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Mali, Sudan and Tanzania, where abortions are illegal except in cases where the mother's life is at risk.
So if you are a poor woman who doesn't live in one of those countries, you're out of luck. And so are your other children because they'll have even less to eat.
And why is this happening? Blame it on his bubbah base, and Harper's Bachelor Club.
His new Chief of Staff Nigel Wright, and the reactionary Catholic cabal.
Wright was managing director of Onex Corporation before coming to Ottawa. His business background and the svelte figure he cuts in a tailored suit have led many observers to assume he’s an old-style Bay Street Tory with no particular interest in social matters. Big mistake. “He’s an Anglo-Catholic,” one former Hill staffer notes. “There’s a certain cabal in our government of Vatican II rejectionist Catholics,” which includes, but isn’t limited to, Kenney and much of his own ministerial staff.
“Let’s put it this way,” the former staffer said. “Nigel is not going to pick up the phone and berate a minister for being too right-wing. That will never happen.”
Theocratic conspiracy? What theocratic conspiracy?
Didn't the song say we're making plans for Nigel? Not the other way around.
Nice of the MSM to warn us FOUR months after the election. Does anybody seriously think they won't introduce a "backbencher's bill" to "regulate" abortion? And one to bring back the death penalty.
Hey. You get what you don't vote for. Never were Canadians so stupid.
Hudak thinks it’s sufficient to promise he won’t reopen the debate on abortion rights, although such a debate is not occurring in Ontario and the fact that he thinks it is says a lot about his views.
A politician’s promise means nothing, especially since Hudak has to answer to a hard-right caucus that may well demand that since abortion can’t be banned, women seeking abortions must be tormented.
Mallick gives credit where credit is due.
The story about Hudak signing the petition emerged on a blog by a smart woman who keeps an eye on things. She noticed that Hudak’s stance, or lack of one, was reported on the ARPA website.
And explains to the Christianist who complained, why he doesn't know what he's talking about:
The blogger “had a chip on his/her shoulder,” Penninga said.
And yes, she did. But what he and Hudak and Harper should understand is that abortion is not a “chip” on a woman’s shoulder, it is her body and her life, her internal sanctity and her choice.
I am warning those who want Canadian women to lose their right to abortion that this will not be a skirmish. It lives in the hearts of girls and women. We will fight you on this.
You know Hudak can shrug off the controversy over his plans to put dangerous criminals on our streets and in our parks. And he can try to explain why he seems obsessed about chicken houses.
The Conservatives have egg on their faces after claiming there's so much red tape in Dalton McGuinty's Ontario that egg farmers are told what colour to paint the insides of their barns.
The feathered IDIOT.
But the abortion issue will haunt him all the way to the election.
How do I know that? Because when their sinister, deranged leader says he won't, I know he WILL.
Because he lies about EVERYTHING. And I wouldn't trust him as far as I can spit.
Not with his record.
Not when the FIRST thing he did when he came to power was attack women's rights like a theocon in heat. And his assault on women since then reads like something out of the Handmaid's Tale.
Not when he has voted against every single bill designed to protect gays and lesbians from prejudice and violence. And since he came to power has discriminated openly against them, defunded their organizations, reduced them to the status of second-class citizens.
Not when he has refused every request to fight bigotry or bullying.
Not when the grotesque homophobe Jason Kenney has been parading around telling immigrants to join them in putting women and gays in their place.
A botched delivery has laid bare the Harper government’s plans to win over immigrant voters by appealing to their social conservatism before an election that the party believes will be under way by March 29.
Not after I saw how a so-called private member's bill on the Gun Registry suddenly became a whipped vote. Those scummy Cons must think we're IDIOTS.
A friend out West told me that a well-connected theocon told him one of Kenney's socon minions promised that abortion would be severely restricted, and gay marriage dead before the end of the FIRST year of a Con majority government.
I believe my friend more than I could ever believe Harper. And if he'd made a tape I'd be playing it every day.
"Your beliefs, your values, our values are the real Canadian values," said Harper, then Opposition leader, at an anti-gay marriage rally in Ottawa in April of 2005. "And you know my position; you know the position of the Conservative Party of Canada. When elected Prime Minister at the next election, we will bring in legislation that defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman."
And as you may know, I got that one on video...
Pretty, aren't they?
Dare I hope that anyone in the MSM might ask Harper whether he still believes that being gay is a behaviour not a sexual orientation? And why his government is still subsidizing this wingnut organization.
And if he also believes that gays can be "cured." Like the crazy bigots in Amerika do. Or the religious fanatics in his jumping Jesus church, who believe that women must be "subordinate" and that gays are an "abomination."
Of course not. I don't expect anything from the MSM. But it doesn't matter eh?
Because I know a bigot and a misogynist when I see one.
And I wouldn't trust those sinister Cons, as far as I can VOMIT.
Consider this my plea: stop terrorizing women. Stop adding trauma to their trauma. If you’re able, stand up to these bullies in nonviolent ways. Speak out. And if you have a camera, use it.
"Anti-abortion forces have succeeded in restricting the availability of abortion through lots of means short of outright prohibition — everything from punitive regulations... to physical intimidation and harassment of abortion providers,"
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
When I see John "Screamer" Baird carrying on like a clown in the House of Commons I can't help wincing with disgust.
At the sight of a gay man in a homophobic government, pleasing his master, and betraying his community.
So I can only imagine how women feel about that other miserable Con stooge, Bev "Limousine" Oda.
Who is trying to please her misogynist master, by claiming that poor women in developing countries don't need safe abortions.
"What I want to ensure is that that side of the House has done its homework,” she said under questioning from the Bloc’s Nicole Demers. “If they go to the USAID website, they will find that the USAID does not support the funding of equipment, the training of people who perform abortions, neither does it support research into abortion. They should do their homework. We know the facts and we know how to really make a difference for the lives of mothers and children."
The first step for avoiding maternal deaths is to ensure that women have access to family planning and safe abortion. This will reduce unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
But then why should we be surprised eh?
Because that hideous old Con has been betraying her gender for a long long time.
Yup. Bev Oda and John Baird... two pathetic Con stooges.
Even by the standards of Stephen Harper's Big Brother Batty government it was a surrealistic and sordid sight.
The Cons going after Frank Graves and the CBC like a pack of rabid teabaggers. Accusing them of starting a culture war.
“They [the opposition MPs on the committee] voted AGAINST a Conservative motion to require CBC executives to explain themselves for using Frank Graves, a Liberal-supporting and self-described ‘progressive’ as the network’s ‘neutral’ pollster on party politics,” the talking points say.
“By voting against this motion, they are endorsing Graves’s call for a ‘Culture War’.” At the next election, the Tories say the choice is clear between a Conservative government or a “reckless coalition” that will wage a war to divide the country.
When the only reason they are going after the CBC is because they hate Canada soooo much. And they were the ones who started this war from the moment they came to power.
The Conservatives have been waging a non-stop political culture war of their own against "Liberals, socialists and separatists" ever since they won power in 2006, daily accusing their opponents of being anti-Semitic, anti-American, soft on crime, soft on child pornography, unpatriotic, attacking and undermining "our troops," and the list goes on.
Virtually every wedge issue in the political handbook has been pile-driven into the Canadian body politic, the impact doubled by a perpetual election campaign of attack ads to destroy, not just their opponents' policies, but their personas.
All Frank Graves did was call this assault by its proper name. And point out that it's really a clash between Canadian and Amerikan values. That we are the Canadians and they are the AmeriCons.
And of course, that if the cranky old rednecks in Alberta don't like it they should move south and vote for Sarah Palin and her teabagging scum.
By attacking Frank Graves like a bunch of Bush bullies they have only proved his point. By putting their evil ideological agenda before the lives of poor women, they have exposed themselves as the monsters who would change our country beyond recognition.
Either we as a nation are officially casting ourselves as hypocrites in our dealings with others, since abortion is a right for all women in this country.
Or, by signalling such a position, Stephen Harper is sending a not very subtle message to his political base that a majority Conservative government in Canada would reopen the debate on a woman's right to choose in this country.
They want to ban abortion. They want to exterminate gay rights. They want to turn this country into a theocratic jungle.
But we won't let them. Because unlike these AmeriCons we love our beautiful Canada. And we will teach these misogynistic, homophobic, religious extremists a lesson they will NEVER forget.
