On a day when hundreds of thousands of people in Canada and the United States answer the call of a Canadian teen to wear purple.
The event, called Spirit Day is the brainchild of Canadian teenager Brittany McMillan. The 16-year-old suggested the color purple for a reason. “Purple represents spirit on the LGBTQ flag, and that’s exactly what we’d like everyone to take with them today,” she says.
The idea took off. More than a million Facebook users have pledged to wear purple today. McMillan says that “we will wear purple in memory of the recent gay suicides. Many of them suffered from homophobic abuse in their schools or in their homes. We want to take a stand to say that we will not tolerate this.”
LGBT employees at Google have a message for bullied kids...
Good for Google. Good for Brittany McMillan.
You know how I feel about bullies.
I found a purple baseball cap.
Now please Mr Google, if I promise to be a good gay boy.
With all the stories about bullying in the news recently I couldn't help thinking how would I react, if I was a dad, and one of my kids was being bullied. Because it would drive me crazy. I hate bullies of all ages, but seeing a happy child turning into a sad, withdrawn one, and feeling helpless to do anything about it, must be one of the worst feelings in the world.
Which is another reason, the whole idea of parenthood...which my mother loves so much... makes me feel faint.
And besides as if bullying wasn't bad enough, I recently saw the Swedish film Patrik Age 1.5. Where two gay men think they are adopting a baby.
Only to end up parenting a 15-year-old homophobic juvenile delinquent.
And although the film had a happy ending, I was practically traumatized eh?
But if Seb and I ever adopted a kid. And it's NEVER going to happen Mum.
I hope that we'd be as cool as these amazing parents and their little princess boy...
Because every little boy and girl should be allowed to be who they are. And if there were more great parents like that, the world would be a happier place.
Except that as much as I loved that gentle video, I couldn't help thinking how are they going to protect that kid from the bullies who would DESTROY him?
So all I can say is, I won't be a daddy. Because you have to be very special to be a good one. And I won't wearing purple today.
Because I don't own anything that colour.
But I will remember those dead kids, the children who are suffering in our Canadian schools. And that gentle little princess boy.
And I will fight bullies, homophobia, and all other kinds of bigotry.
In the darkness that is Afghanistan the truth comes out slowly.
Three years ago, Canadian troops built a temporary post near Lora. When they immediately came under fire from insurgents, they bulldozed much of the hamlet, flattening houses, water pumps and surrounding orchards, the villagers and local elders say.
“There were 10 families who had houses there that were totally destroyed, and mulberry trees were taken out by their roots,” Mr. Hamid said in a recent interview in Kandahar city. “They destroyed all these things, and we are unable to replace them.”
Mr. Hamid, the grape farmer, said his wheat harvest was burned in the fighting. He and other villagers filed for compensation through the district administration. He was told the foreigners had accepted the claim, but said he never got any money.
A month later the Canadians moved in the bulldozers and demolished his farm and more than 600 of his vines, he said. “I did not make a complaint for the houses because no one can hear my voice,” he said.
We had to destroy the village to save it. Why does that sound so familiar? Oh yeah, I remember.
So what else don't we know? How is that Afghan detainees and torture investigation going?
Almost four months after a special committee of MPs was created to examine 40,000 sensitive Afghan detainee documents, not a single page has been cleared for public release.
Wilfert declined to guess when the first documents might finally be tabled in Parliament for public consumption. But he said committee members are seized with a sense of urgency, well aware that the process could be disrupted by a possible spring election.
Right. So when can we expect Stephen Harper to tell us what he knew about all of the above?
I don't know, because in the moral darkness that is Con Canada the truth is the ENEMY...
But what I do know, now beyond all doubt, is that when it is finally revealed.
Uh oh. I see the Con zombie Vic Toews has staggered out of his crypt and received an honorary degree at the University of Winnipeg. But not without some resistance from the living.
"The decision to give an honorary doctorate to someone who is best known among my generation of students as a vocal opponent of the expansion to human rights is questionable at best," said Larson, who earned an honours degree in psychology.
And look you can watch the voodoo ceremony magic moment here !!
So why would a university award an honorary law degree to a Con zombie who once claimed that protecting gays and lesbians from hate crimes would "bring the jackboot of fascism down on the necks of our people? "
A theocratic fascist who wants to jail even more young people, and a creepy old hypocrite.
Yesterday I told you why the Bush/Cheney administration decided to single out Omar Khadr for prosecution, when they had so many other adult prisoners they could have gone after first.
In the case of Khadr, the agenda was clear enough: Khadr would be accused of murdering an American soldier. He would demonstrate a new principle that the Bush Administration sought to establish, namely that it is a war crime for civilians to take up arms against a military force that invades their country.
The fact that this new principle is opposed by most of the world and undermines the very foundations of the laws of war was probably only an added benefit, in their perverse reasoning. And similarly, they seem to have taken a certain perverse pleasure in violating the protections that international law gives to child warriors. They were trying to prove a favorite neoconservative meme: international law is meaningless.
Because if they could rape the rights of a Canadian kid, and get away with it, they could rape the rights of ANYONE.
Today the wonderful young humanitarian Craig Kielburger writes about the time he met Omar.
It dawned on me that people thought my 13-year old self did something kids shouldn’t be capable of doing. But, when Omar was pushed into weapons training at 10, apparently he should have known better.
Really though, the two of us are products of our environment. Omar is just being punished for his.
And the so-called King of Torture lays a little pain on Canada.
The directors also interviewed Damien Corsetti, who worked as an interrogator in Afghanistan and Iraq, including at the Abu-Ghraib prison which became infamous for the torture of inmates.
Corsetti, who was nicknamed “The Monster” and “King of Torture,” sympathized with Khadr.
“Ultimately the blame now lies on the Canadian people, of how I, as a cold, callous son of a bitch, had more compassion for that boy than his own people.”
I'm not quite sure what to say after a statement like that, from a guy like this:
Damien Corsetti looks at me with his small eyes and says: “Look, they leave us alone in this room, they give me a roll of duct tape to tie you to the chair, I turn off the light and in five hours you sign a piece of paper for me saying that you’re Usamah Bin-Ladin”.
Except what does it say about a country, when a torturer has more of a conscience than a Prime Minister?
Why are we allowing our Bush/Cheney Cons to keep raping the rule of law?
Can you imagine what Omar must have endured in a place like that?
His defence team (which has changed a number of times over the years) has long maintained he is innocent. He has had opportunities to accept plea deals in the past, and turned them down. Now he’s willing to agree. Do people plead guilty to murder when they’re not guilty? Do lawyers advise their clients to admit to murders they didn’t commit?
And I realized I hadn't.
So for those who still don't get it, the ONLY possible reason Omar Khadr would agree to plead guilty is because if he doesn't, the kangaroo court he faces could sentence him to THIRTY years in jail, in addition to the seven years he has already spent in one of the worst prisons on earth.
For a young Canadian who has endured what he has, Omar has shown remarkable strength. Although he's still riddled with shrapnel, and blind in one eye, and has been abandoned by just about everyone, he's never given up hope. But a human being can only take so much.
As for those who have ever wondered why the Bush administration, and their stooges the Harper Cons, chose to make an example out of Khadr, they should really read this (PDF)
Or just this paragraph:
In the case of Khadr, the agenda was clear enough: Khadr would be accused of murdering an American soldier. He would demonstrate a new principle that the Bush Administration sought to establish, namely that it is a war crime for civilians to take up arms against a military force that invades their country.
The fact that this new principle is opposed by most of the world and undermines the very foundations of the laws of war was probably only an added benefit, in their perverse reasoning. And similarly, they seem to have taken a certain perverse pleasure in violating the protections that international law gives to child warriors. They were trying to prove a favorite neoconservative meme: international law is meaningless.
Sound familiar?
Oh yeah. If you want to know what kind of people you attract by standing up for the rule of law and human decency, here's a comment I received tonight:
Julie said...
Wow...I'm almost ashamed to be Canadian when I see such a collections of vile, putrid, sub-troglodytes terrorist-sympathizers (that would be the Khadr family) supporters (that would be you) creatures like yourself.
I hope you and your terrorist sympathizer relatives all get cancer and die you worthless piece of terrorist sympathizer shits.
Regards.
Nice eh?
As I've always said, this case is EVIL. People who think like Julie are Amerikan scum.
I've never watched the show Murdoch Mysteries and after reading this you can be sure I never will.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has taken his law and order agenda to a new level by making an appearance in the police procedural TV series Murdoch Mysteries.
Because the thought of that deranged authoritarian playing a desk sergeant is enough to give me nightmares.
Although I suppose since the series takes place during the time of Jack the Ripper.
It could be worse...
But can you believe it eh? He wanted to be a hockey star, but he couldn't play team sports, so he pretended to write a book about it.
Now he wants to build more prisons for invisible criminals, so he's playing a police officer, and pretending to book people.
Oh. My. Orwell. How many multiple personalities does he have?
Who said he's a control freak?
Shaftesbury CEO Christina Jennings told the Globe and Mail the PM was committed to his part and gave a few notes to the show's writers.
"He was pointing out a couple of little bits of historical accuracy," said Jennings.
As you know, I have always considered the story of Omar Khadr to be one of the most disgraceful truly shameful episodes in the history of this country.
Omar Khadr has agreed to plead guilty to all war crimes charges he faces — including murder — and is ready to serve a total of eight years in prison, seven of them in Canada, Postmedia News has learned.
Khadr was a child soldier, he never should have been jailed and tortured. He is almost certainly not guilty of killing anyone. His so-called trial is a travesty. And sentencing him to eight more years would be an absolute ABOMINATION.
Not only would it be incredibly cruel, it would make a mockery out of justice. It would spare the Canadian government from being rightfully sued. It would take the cowardly Obama administration off the hook. And it would drive another nail into the coffin of the U.N. Protocol on the Treatment of Child Soldiers...that we were the FIRST to sign.
Omar has always resisted a plea bargain, but if he has finally given up, who can blame him eh?
First his crazy terrorist father dragged him off to Afghanistan. Then he was riddled with shrapnel, blinded in one eye, then shot twice in the back, with exit wounds in his chest so big you could see his heart beating.
Then he was tortured and jailed, first at the CIA prison at Bagram, and then at that hideous gulag called Guantanamo. Then he was betrayed by two Canadian governments, and finally abandoned by his own people.
I'm not surprised that Stephen Harper is still stonewalling. That cold, heartless, psychopath and torture freak is capable of ANYTHING.
But to see so many Canadians act like Pentagon stooges, racists, and rednecks, just because they don't like him or his family, has both shocked and disgusted me. Those teabaggers should all be ashamed of themselves.
I have absolutely no sympathy for Jihadists or any other kind of religious fanatics, for obvious reasons. But there is no evidence that Khadr is one of them. Everyone who has ever met him, including his guards, describe him as a pleasant young man who prefers reading comics to reading the Koran.
But even if he was a religious fanatic or a rabid homophobe, it wouldn't make any difference to me. Because he was a child soldier, he should have been rehabilitated not tortured and jailed. Whatever happened to doing the honourable, decent, and Canadian thing ? And if we are not better than our enemies who the hell are we?
Oh well. What more can I say that I haven't said so many times before?
The trial is a travesty. I'm so ashamed of my country.
Well I see Stephen Harper is desperately trying to recover from his humiliating defeat at the United Nations. And his incredible shaming in the eyes of the world.
But like a mad king on his throne, only managing to look like a bad loser, and a crazed IDIOT.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada bases its international engagement on principles, not "popularity," and won't be swayed by "secret votes" at the United Nations.
When everyone knows EVERYTHING he does is designed to boost his popularity. He has no principles. Every word in this paragraph is such a Big Lie:
The Canadian government, Harper said, takes its positions based on the promotion of "our values — freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, justice, development, humanitarian assistance for those who need it.
Even the United States couldn't stand to see him get more than a toilet seat.
And even the Calgary Herald thinks Harper is full of shit.
While some in the Harper government are already trying to blame Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff for Canada's defeat at the United Nations.... a key factor in that embarrassing outcome clearly can be attributed to the highly personal policies of Prime Minister Stephen Harper himself.
Yup. The Cons can try to turn a turd into a rose, but the truth is that no Canadian Prime Minister has EVER been so humiliated, so shamed in the eyes of the world. Harper wanted the U.N. seat sooooooo badly.
He spent more than a billion dollars of OUR money trying to get it. He dressed up in humanitarian drag to try to fool people into believing that he cared about women.
It was going to be the jewel in the crown of his election campaign. "Canada is back" he would crow. "Now gimme my MAJORITY !!!
When in fact, like a reverse Midas, everything the deranged nerd touched turned to smelly fecal matter. The rest of the civilized world looked on in horror at this ghastly freak show. And Canada isn't back. It's gone backwards.
Canada was once known for its internationalism. Canada created the modern concept of UN peacekeeping. It stood at the forefront of global efforts to promote human rights, such as the fight against apartheid.
Now, unfortunately, when it comes to the international arena, Canada is barely punching at all. It is still a member of the G8, but it is no longer seen as a strong moral voice on key international issues.
Once we were the decent Canadians, who deployed the genius of compromise that we used to build Canada, to help solve conflicts in other countries.
And now it's gone. Fifty years of work destroyed in five years by an angry, authoritarian, bully ideologue with delusions of grandeur. Who didn't just shame himself. He shamed Canada as well. And turned us into the Ugly Canadians.
Because we're still a young country we can recover. We can be the noble, decent, peacemakers again. The kind of country our world so desperately needs. But it will take a long time, and we can't begin until the Harper Cons are driven from power.
For the sake of our country, for the sake of our burning planet, I beg you.
Organize, UNITE, don't fight each other. Defeat those shameful shabby Cons.
As I'm sure you remember, when we last left Maxime Bernier, the Bobo from the Beauce, he was on his way to ask the Wizard to give him a brain.
The good news? The Wizard did give him half a brain. Because that's all a Con needs.
The bad news? He lost it on the way back to Canada.
Conservative MP Maxime Bernier on Wednesday proposed scrapping the Canada Health Transfer and giving the provinces dramatically more flexibility in how they deliver services — ideas quickly condemned by critics as a possible trial balloon revealing Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "real vision" for health care.
Bernier didn't specifically advocate for more private health-care delivery, though he did say that a one-size-fits-all model "precludes experimentation, kills innovation and makes it awfully difficult to extricate oneself from failed policies."
The BEST news? Since Bobo was the one who first suggested that the long-form census be killed. And we know that not only did Stephen Harper go for that one... like a fat trout goes for a juicy worm.
He spent YEARS being supported by and working for the National Citizens Coalition that was FOUNDED to destroy medicare.
The impetus that led Colin M Brown to found the organization in 1967 was his stalwart opposition, as an insurance agent and doctor's son, to public health insurance or "socialized medicine", as it was framed at the time by its opponents.
So I think that every Canadian should read this letter I sent to Great Census Killer Leader...
Dear Prime Monster:
Since your government has already signalled its intention to slash payments to the provinces.
The Harper government is signalling that it intends to scale back the growth rate of federal transfers to the provinces – a warning that means tough decisions lie ahead on health care, education and social programs as Canada moves to balance the books.
And you have shown yourself to be a rabid ideologue.
How can any sane person trust you not to try to KILL medicare or force the provinces to semi-privatize it?
When the right-wing nutbars PAID you for YEARS to DESTROY it?
Yours Disloyally
Simon
I mean what better way to make all those seniors who support him decide what they REALLY want? More prisons and war planes, or a hospital bed and a doctor to treat them when they get sick?
When we all know what Harper really wants. We know that even a Wizard can't give him a heart. And we know that when it comes to medicare Great Tin Man Leader has got feet of CLAY.
Yup. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The progressive side in this country is far too soft.
