Sunday Open Thread

Anaheim Court Ruling from the Journal Newspaper

Anaheim, California(AP) - A seven year old boy was at the center of a Anaheim courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible. The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her.

When the judge suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks hockey team, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

Lost in the loss...

Under the deal, Canada will get at least $4-billion returned from U.S. coffers. "As I say, he's going to crow," Mr. Wiseman said.
As much as the former government "crowed" AGAINST America???
"He tries to make everything partisan, Harper.... His objective here, and Mulroney was like that too, is to point out that we can do something the Liberals can't."

The Liberal strategy of playing the anti-U.S card every step of the failed race isn't "partisan"...
"The Prime Minister appears prepared to pay a billion-dollar cover charge for an invitation to President Bush's ranch in Texas," he said. "We find that absolutely appalling."
Everyone else will find this quote much more appalling. I would think that NOW is the time for Canada's left to shut the hell up, and lick their wounds like they should be doing... But no. Now, apparently, is the time to go even more hardcore. Let's all just enjoy this, 'cause there's nothing funnier than a raving, losing LOONleftIC...

Update: Like I was saying...

Just a Reminder

Friday is Hawaiian Shirt Day.

Thursday Morning Giggles

Found these at Townhall.com

“It is time for those of us who are tired of the diversity movement to come
up with our own definition of racism. Racism is best defined as a pathological
tendency to interject race into situations where it is not relevant, merely for
personal gain."

“Some people think I am opposed to the National Day of Silence. That
isn’t true. There’s nothing like a day without homosexual whining. Right now,
I’m trying to talk them into a National Year of Silence.”

“When I am hunting and I know I see a deer in the brush, I pull the
trigger. When I know it is a human, I hold my fire. When I don’t know, I also
hold my fire. The feminist who doesn’t know whether a fetus is a person, has the
abortion anyway. In other words, she just pulls the trigger. Nonetheless,
feminists still feel they are morally superior to hunters.”

“Men are fully capable of masturbating without taking a seminar. For
men, it’s a natural talent. For campus feminists, it’s another excuse to seek
funding from the university administration.”

“Feminists often justify abortion by saying that the procedure is no
different than picking a scab. That’s when I start asking questions. I often ask
feminists about a film I saw of a fetus in the so-called first trimester of
development. The baby was yawning, rubbing its eyes, and even rolling around and
playing in the womb. I like to ask feminists whether they have ever seen a scab
yawn.”

Read more Mike Adams quotes here [click]

Almost Falling for the Popular Wisdom

I try and stay away from issues military, mostly because I have a remarkable ignorance about things military. In fact, the main reason I brought Ron aboard was to have someone around that has some knowledge in that area. So I have spent the past few days listening to the arguments pro and contra raising/lowering the flag and letting reporters on to CFB Borden for the Repatriation Ceremony. I have thought it through, try to separate the chaff from the wheat, and managed to form an opinion.The flag flap was the easier of the two. Quite clearly the military brass, members of the military and former members seem to concur that Remembrance Day is the appropriate time to lower the flags to half-staff in commemoration of members of our services who have been lost while in our service.

The question of reporters at the Repatriation Ceremony has been a bit trickier. My initial reaction was to disagree with the Prime Minister on this one. The media belong, journaling the event for us all. That was yesterday. I read in all the papers about how the media is always respectful at these events, how they wouldn't dare turn it into some sort of circus.

While I was reading, the media were busy turning into a circus. Dear MSM: standing on ladders at the fence taking pictures with super-telescopic lenses is not respectful. It isn't whenever Madonna gets married; it isn't at a Repatriation Ceremony. After seeing the pictures of the media standing in a line on their ladders, on top of the news vans, is there any doubt they would have hired helicopters to flyover and shoot their pictures if it wasn't restricted air space?

However, I was still unsure until I read this quote from Garth Turner: "It would appear to me that a lot of people want to participate in the grieving vicariously…”

Vicarious grieving has become a de-rigueur thing in the past fifteen or twenty years. Many say it started with Princess Diana, but it started long before that: it just climaxed into inglorious spectacle with the death of the Princess. Whether it's the walls of teddy bears when a tragedy occurs involving a child, or the online signing of condolences whenever a tragically newsworthy event occurs, people all too often " participate in the grieving vicariously."

Frankly, if that's what this is about, if all this newsprint is being expended because people can't have a symbolic teddy bear mountain outside CFB Borden, then I say ban the media, arrest them when they show up with step-ladders, and execute them when they whine about lack of access.

Leave the families, and the forces with a little dignity, even if you won't do so for the rest of us.

From At Home in Hespeler

Update: I made the right call on this one.

Wakey-Wakey!

The MSM and lib-left up here in Canada have been getting their panties all in a bunch (Jason C provides us with one of the better examples) these past few days and it's amusing to watch. What's their boggle? Well, the idea that the media is now being barred from a military ceremony where the bodies of our fallen soldiers are turned over to their families. Repatriation. Their whole argument is that we're not respecting our soldiers or their families by making these changes.

Ok, so what's really the problem?

In a word (two actually): Cindy Sheehan

Canada's MSM and lib-left is trying to pull a Cindy and the opportunity is being taken from them. They're pissed that they can't use 4 flag-covered caskits as the backdrop for their editorialising on the evils of war.

Now you've got to be saying to yourself that this is a reasonable thing to do right? Who would politicize the death of a soldier? Well, the old Liberal government did it for 12 years. They made things easy for the MSM. Quick photo-ops and sound-bytes with little or no effort. All of this gave our moonbat lib-left more than enough anti-war ammunition. Why do you think our soldiers were called "peacekeepers" instead of soldiers? Because the MSM and lib-left did such a good mind-f**k on the public that it wasn't politically correct to have "soldiers" anymore.

Like Cindy dry-humping her sons grave with hundreds of cameras behind her, our own politicians and lib-left were screwing our fallen sons to further their own political goals.


Think I'm full of shit? Lets ask Jack Layton.

You see, 'ol Jack is the leader of Canada's NDP. The NDP is the furthest left of all political parties who have seats in our Parliment. Not long ago, 'ol Jack didn't seem to have a problem with sending our troops to Afganistan. When it was a Liberal government that did the sending. Now that we have a Conservative government in power it seems that Jack's had a change of heart. No sooner than our new Parliment began sitting, Jack started screaming that we had to re-assess our position on Afganistan. That we had to bring our soldiers peacekeepers home. His reasoning? Dead soldiers.

Did Jack have the change of heart because he figured out that we were actually at war and that soldiers die fighting war? Nope. He had the change of heart because he knew he could use the issue to score points against the new Conservative government.

The new Conservative government clued-in in a hurry and these changes are the result. No more media on the tarmack during the repatriation ceromonies. They're not going to allow Canada's MSM and lib-left to "spin" the deaths of our soldiers indiscriminately any more.

Understand this: The Conservative government isn't using dead soldiers as a political football, they're preventing others from using dead soldiers as a political football!

This, in my mind, is showing true respect to our fallen heros and their families. Our soldiers seem to agree.

SDA has two great posts on the issue. Here and here. C-junk has great commentary on the parallel and closely related "flag-flap" and AGWN has gleaned some not-too-surprising comments from the lib-left.

Welcome to Cannuckistan Eh!

After midKnight...

And I don't work tomorrow.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOilers!
Calgary had better start cheering for Dallas, at any rate. :)
It's also a real, tragic shame, what became of poor ol' Vancouver and Toronto, and I'm not talking about hockey. Remember the glorious Mulroney years...

Bringing Balance Back To The Force

Ever notice how anytime you see males on mainstream television they're portrayed as idiots? Yeah, me too. Ever notice how anytime you hear radio ads talking about family violence, they're always biased against men and portray women as victims? Yeah, me too. Give a listen to the one that's currently playing here in Calgary.

[click]

Now I don't know about you but I've had my wife say a few of those things on occasion.

Where did all this anti-men bias come from? Well, it comes from people like Polly Jones and the organisations (YWCA) that have the victimisation of women as their stock in trade.

There is hope however. We're seeing more and more organisations like this popping up:

The Family of Men Support Society

We are working hard to educate all persons that family violence and abuse are non-gender issues and to elevate the cries of men to the same level of women and children.

Do yourselves a favor guys and look for similar outfits in your own community. And then support them.

The only way we're going to get some balance is if we make it ourselves.

Mentally flunked...

Pro-U.S. Flattery Flailed How do you "flail" "flattery"?
Pyongyang, April 24, 2006 (KCNA) -- The south Korea-U.S. "Alliance Friendship Society" is staging such a disgusting farce as giving Korean-style names to bosses of the local U.S. ruling machines in south Korea including the U.S. ambassador, making sheep's eyes at them. I suspect the K.C.N.A is running out of fresh ideas in regards to smearing America... Branding the riffraffsof the "society" like sheep, as despicable fanatics of pro-U.S. flunkeyism, a Rodong Sinmun analyst Monday says: Rondong Sinmun. No government in the world has has ever had a one man media organization so passionately on it's wing... It is a disgrace and tragedy that there are such traitors within the nation who hit upon the abominable idea, after licking the boots of the aggressors, running the whole gamut of flattery. "Pro-U.S Flattery" is apparently a "gambit" in North Korea now, as if it wasn't before... He goes on(tomorrow they will refer to "he" as "it"...): This treacherous thought must have struck the pro-U.S. elements in their desperate efforts to prolong their days which are numbered, pushed to the fringe by the trend of independent reunification. But their behavior is too shameless. Underlying this despicable folly of the fanatics of pro-U.S. flunkeyism is the sinister intention to carry the split of south Korean society to a greater depth and capitalize on it for their return to power, as well as to capitalize business. What the traitors of the Grand National Party seek in wirepulling such ultra-right organizations as the "friendship society" to stage the pro-U.S. farce is to divide south Korean society into anti-U.S. and pro-U.S. sections and achieve the tie-up of the conservative forces. Pro-U.S. treacheries will bring nothing but misfortune and pain of national division and catastrophic disasters of war to the whole nation. As opposed to a decades long government induced famine. Yet, the traitors of the GNP are driving south Korea suffering from tragedies brought by pro-U.S. acts into a deeper abyss of pro-U.S. flunkeyism and gratify their greed for power. Their mental disease of pro-U.S. flunkeyism is obviously incurable before they go to their graves. Has any media in the English language ever used the word "flunkeyism" four times in a two paragraph "news" "report"??? To say nothing of the "incurable mental disease"... Realities make it crystal clear that independence, progress and dignity are unthinkable in south Korea with the GNP and other groups of pro-U.S. traitors let alone. Has a more oxymoronic sentence ever existed in the English language?

Scott Brison

Alright, I really want to know: What are the odds that Canada would elect an openly gay individual as it's Prime Minister?


He seems to think they're pretty good...

GREENWICH, N.S. (CP) - Scott Brison is taking another run at the leadership of a federal party, but this time it's the Liberals he wants to lead.

The Nova Scotia MP, who was once a Progressive Conservative, announced his ambition to lead the Liberal party on Sunday, describing himself as "a product of a Liberal Canada" in the late 1960s.

"I would not be where I am today without a Liberal Canada, shaped by Liberal ideas, based on Liberal values," he said during his announcement surrounded by supporters at a local inn.

"Liberal social investments helped give me a good start and the opportunity to compete and to succeed."

Well, if he did win the Liberal leadership and eventually the Prime Ministership, we could rest assured that the PM's residence would be exceptionally well decorated...

No Hope for NOLA?

From "The Liberty Papers" who was live blogging the NOLA election last night:

10:47 PM: I’m not even going to even bother finishing liveblogging. The corrupt
and incompetant New Orleans status quo has won and won big tonight. Most
incumbants have been reelected or are going into the runoff. Mitch Landrieu is
no real alternative to Ray Nagin. New Orleans has sealed its own fate tonight,
which is going to go down as the worst night since August 29, 2005. May God help
us all.

Sounds alot like the same sort of cycle Canada is stuck in. Kevin is correct when he says "May God help us all"...

Carnival of Pedophiles

It would seem that the blogging child molesters are becomming more brazen and bold (h/t to the lovely RightGirl).

Today's carnival begins with a site called "the puerist" managed by an individual who calls himself "Crake". Our new friend "Crake" comes at the issue from the standpoint that children and adults are equal in all ways and that they should be treated the same. Here's an excerpt:

Human beings use the innocence of children as a grounds to protect them. Sure children are innocent and need to be protected, but the same goes for all people. All people (children included that is) are innocent, and all people need to be protected. This viewpoint of total equality for all people regardless of age will draw criticism from people who think that it's somehow going to deprive children of their innocence and therefore be a harm to them. For if the ship was sinking, and it wasn't "women and children first" to be saved, we'd be condemning children to death along with women and men. Society has a way of prioritizing gender and age in a situation of the like that is harmful because it sets a standard that some humans are more worthy of being saved than others. Indeed if we saw everyone has an equal chance to be saved, men, women, boy, and girls alike, we'd be in a better position to make the judgement as to who to sacrifice.

Here's a graphic Crake has on his site:


And another:


I find this one most interesting. Note the large circle joined with the small circle symbolizing the union of adult and child. How special.

Next up we have "inkplum" who says the following:

Two boyz in love. An image from 111 yearz ago. Yet it still has the power to frighten some. Several friendz have implored me to take down this Von Gloden print. They're palz, and were fearful for my safety.

On my "Sidneyland" blog a few weekz ago I'd put up another image of gai teenage'z. These boyz were being executed by the Iranian Clericz. There they stood beneath a deep blue sky with ropes around their neckz. The last moments of their young livez captured on film.

I was going to put these two images side by side, but I thought better of it. It would be wrong to exploit their matyrdom just to make an obvious point. Ironically Pope John Paul was correct when he said that the world existed in a "Culture of Death".

Interesting place. Only one post up however. I wonder why that is...
Moving on, we find a site called "Silence Is Golden But Free Speech Is Priceless". It's run by an individual who calls himself "BLueRibbon". See how the "B" and "L" are in caps? More symbolism folks. The BL stands for "Boy Lover". Here's what BLueRibbon has to say about himself:

I am a boylover in my late teens. According to society, this makes me an evil person who should be locked up for life, because I am unable to control my urges, and will eventually hunt down and rape innocent children. Luckily I know this is not true, which is why I write this; to tell you that not ALL people attracted to young boys are evil. Different? Yes. But different does not make you any less of a good person.

And here's what he's got in his introductory post:

Before we realized the World was round, we thought it was flat; before we discovered electricity, we thought a candle was bright; and before some of us accepted that everybody is different, many of us were bigoted and intolerant.... But did anyone ever accept that everyone is different? It seems not. There are still many people who suffer from the prejudism of some members of this society. To make any step forward, people must begin to accept that their previous beliefs may not be correct. Instead of persecuting all people who "deviate" from the norm, people who just follow the majority need to realize that normality is simply a point of view; that's all it ever will be. There are some majority views which need to be changed and it's ordinary people which need to make this change. The chances of starting a revolution are minimal, but the scope for causing change is immense.

Any one else noticing that the pedophiles are using the exact same arguments that forwarded the rights of homosexuals? Wonder why they think they can get away with that... hmmm... Oh, yeah, because society bought into the homosexuals arguments!

Moving on again, we find "IdiocyMuseum" as it's run by an individual who calls herself "Ella". Here's a snippet from her profile:

I'm a sixteen-year-old girl. You can call me Ella. I'm pro Youth Rights, pro Child Love, and pro free will. I am against ageist bigots and propaganda pushers who use hundreds and thousands of words to say absolutely nothing, meanwhile rallying a crowd ready to stone the nearest unlucky fellow human being to death.

Strong words for a 16 year-old girl. If she is a girl and if she is 16. I read this in the comments section of one of her posts and it's got me wondering:

Magnolia said: I brought your age into question as many pedophiles online lie about their age to attract,then groom, children.

Now, having been a supporter of the work done by the group "Perverted-Justice" I know that Magnolia's statement is completely correct. A very large number of pedophiles pretend to be kids to lure-in their prey. Is Ella a 16 year-old girl? Don't know. I am inclined to think not however.

The last blog in the carnival is titled "At Our Expense" and I'm actually impressed with the honesty of this animal:

Hello! My name is John Clennon, and I am a pedophile. I am sexually attracted to young girls between the ages of 5-14.

I look forward to seeing where this blog may take us, and I appreciate you coming here. The title, "At Our Expense", is intended for those of us like me who have lived their lives with an unaccepted sexual orientation. Be it zoophilia, necrophilia, coprophagia, diaper fetish, pedophilia, or whatever, please let us in on your adventures/experiences. For your own safety, please do not mention any illegal activity you have engaged in, and please do not promote or encourage activity which is illegal in your state, country, or provice. Remember at all times that I may not be the only one monitoring this blog.

We're open to everybody. Have a sitdown, enjoy the brownies, discuss, debate, kick some ass.


John Clennon
Pedophile/Musician
With you to the end.

He's used his real name. He's stated his objectives and he knows that he has to hide them. I don't think I can say anymore about this one... Except what the hell is "coprophagia"???

The last link in today's journey will take you to a site called "BoyLinks" BoyLinks seems to be a repository on everything to do with BoyLove and it's got to be seen to be believed. Check it out if you've got the stomach.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm feeling rather slimey after crawling through all this filth and need to go take a shower.

Canadian MoonBattery At It's Finest

To go along with yesterdays post on giving drugs to addicts, I was able to get the audio from a radio interview between QR77's Dave Rutherford and Gillian Maxwell who heads an organisation called "Keeping the Door Open" (KDO).

KDO is an organisation pushing for the full legalisation and regulation of drugs. Here's their Mission/Vision Statement:

Our Vision & Mission:

In KDO’s shared vision of the future, problematic substance use is understood to be a complex social, cultural, health, and economic issue. Substance users are effectively engaged in systems of care, and live harmoniously within inclusive communities, and are given the opportunity to live healthy and dignified lives.
Our mission is to prevent and reduce the harms associated with problematic substance use in British Columbia and Canada, and achieve better health and social justice outcomes for people living with addictions, HIV/AIDS, and mental illness.

I've listened to the audio at least 5 times and it's such a goldmine that I can't figure out where to begin. One thing that really caught my attention however was how Gillian stated that "people can not make their own decisions" Take it for what it's worth.

So many different dynamics with so little time. Tell ya what, give it a listen and make some noise in the comments section.

Click here for the audio (It's a big file - 11meg - 23.5 min - so those folks on dial-up have my apologies - I'll try to get a stream figured out over the weekend)

Question:

Why on earth would an individual want to keep a group of other individuals stoned?

Provide drugs to addicts, mayor says

Mayor Sam Sullivan wants the Eastside cleaned up by 2010 Games

Frances Bula, Vancouver Sun

Published: Friday, April 21, 2006

Mayor Sam Sullivan says he's willing to risk his political career to bring in a program to provide drugs or drug substitutes for addicts in an effort to protect victimized women in the Downtown Eastside and deal with Vancouver's social-disorder problems by the 2010 Olympics.

And his goal could be a reality sooner than some had imagined.

In a lengthy interview about his plans for drug-addiction strategies, Sullivan confirmed that an anonymous individual who has been in contact with his office has offered $500,000 to fund some kind of innovative harm-reduction program in the city. Sullivan had already been consulting with experts and community groups to explore ways of initiating a drug-maintenance program.

[...]

This reminds me of the way the Dems in the US do their best to keep the blacks on the plantation, figuratively speaking. In order to champion the black race, they need racism and if it's not there, they create it. Same thing goes here I think. In order to champion the cause of the drug addicts, the lib-left needs people to stay drug addicts.

Get it? The champions are actually the ones doing the victimizing.

From the Mailbag

From John S. at Stop the ACLU

Please share with your readers.

http://stoptheaclu.com/archives/2006/04/19/teaching-gay-tolerance-to-second-graders/

While two parents in Lexington, Mass., are upset about the fact their second-grade son was read a fantasy book in school about two princes getting married, what makes them even more angry is the fact the boy's teacher said because same-sex marriage is legal in their state there is no way a mother or father can opt out a child from such experiences.

"We are outraged," parents Rob and Robin Wirthlin told the local Article 8 Alliance. "This is a highly charged social issue. Why are they introducing it in the second grade? And we cannot present our family's point of view to our children if they don't tell us what they're saying to them."

According to a statement from the traditional-values organization, March 24 the Wirthlins' second-grade son came home from Estabrook Elementary School and repeated to his mother the story read to him earlier that day about men getting married to each other. His teacher had read the book "King and King" to the class, in which a prince doesn't want to marry any princesses, but instead falls in love with a princess' brother and marries him in a big palace wedding.

The Wirthlins say they immediately contacted the teacher, Heather Kramer, who acknowledged she had read the book to the class and admitted that it was not part of the curriculum.

It was explained to the couple that since same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, discussion of the matter is fair game — parents do not have to be informed before or after the issue is presented. Kramer reportedly told the Wirthlins that the theme of the day was "weddings" and the teacher wanted to present all points of view on the subject.

Does this kind of stuff even belong in a school, much less the second grade? No matter what your views are on gay marraige, this is a hot topic across the nation, and is a family values issue to many parents. In my opinion, this is nothing more than indoctrination of views that goes against the religious views of many families. To leave parents out of the loop on such a controversial topic, with no way to opt their child out and no notification so that an alternate view point can be presented is a pure attempt at indoctrination. If this were a debate topic in a highschool, I wouldn't have a problem…but it is clearly a one-sided view that has no place in a second grade classroom. Here's a note of advice for the gay activists: Trying to force your views on American children will not further the agenda of acceptance or tolerance, it will only cause backlash. Back off of the kids.

I agree...

Fer Shits and Giggles

Some audio to help you goof-off on a Friday:

There's way too much trailertrashedness in this one.

Some cartoon jihad audio.

Ya mean we get a do-over?

CTV.ca News Staff

Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled on Wednesday the Conservative government's plan to move forward with justice reform this spring, which will include mandatory minimum sentences for a series of crimes.

[...]

Another move by the government will be to increase the age for sexual consent between an adult and teen from 14 to 16.

"As many of you will know, this change will bring us in line with most of the countries of the world," Harper said.

"It is long overdue and it is particularly important in the age of the Internet where young people are increasingly targeted by cyber-predators."

If I remember correctly, Liberal MP Belinda Stronach was dancing on speakers in a pub the last time our MP's voted on this issue. I wonder if her constituents will hold her a little more accountable this time...

The Good Guys Score One More

From WorldNet Daily:

After the entire faculty voted, with no dissenters, to brand their head librarian as a sexual harasser because he recommended the bestselling book "The Marketing of Evil" as required reading for freshmen, Ohio State University has finally dropped its controversial charges in the glare of national media attention.

But, warns the librarian's attorney, who calls this one of the most "astonishing" and "shameful" instances of campus persecution he's ever seen, the damage to his client's reputation and career has been done. They've already filed a complaint against three professors for false accusations of harassment and are discussing a more "substantial" response – including possible litigation – to "deter any future tyranny or bullying of others."

As WND first reported, Scott Savage, a devout Quaker, is head of Reference and Instructional Services at the Bromfield Library on Ohio State University's Mansfield campus. As a member of the university's First Year Reading Experience Committee, Savage had suggested four books be considered as required reading for incoming freshmen: "The Marketing of Evil" by David Kupelian, "The Professors" by David Horowitz, "Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis" by Bat Ye'or, and "It Takes a Family" by Sen. Rick Santorum. Savage made the recommendations after other committee members had suggested a series of books with a left-wing perspective, by authors such as Jimmy Carter and Maria Shriver.

However, three professors – two of them openly homosexual – filed a complaint of discrimination and harassment, contending Kupelian's book was "hate literature" which "threatened" them and made them feel "unsafe" on campus. After a 21-0 faculty vote (with 9 abstentions) on March 13, the school's Office of Human Resources put Savage under "investigation." The full-faculty vote was rescinded two days later for legal reasons, and the three offended professors filed the harassment complaint.

The professors who filed the complaint against Savage are Hannibal Hamlin, Norman Jones and J.K. Buckley. Jones teaches courses in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature, and according to his bio, "his current research focuses on sexuality and spirituality, particularly exploring the phenomenon of the 'post-secular queer' in contemporary literature." Buckley has written "The Social Critic: The Rise of Queer Performance Within the Demise of Transcendentalism" as well as "articles on sexual orientation in Hemingway and Melville."

Stepping up to defend Savage has been the Arizona-based public-interest law firm, the Alliance Defense Fund, which on March 28 filed a "Cease and Desist" letter to OSU Mansfield officials.

Undeterred, the university pressed on in its "investigation" of Savage, insisting it takes "any allegation of sexual harassment seriously."

The ADF filing linked above includes, as evidentiary exhibits, the condemnations of Savage and Kupelian made by OSU professors in intra-faculty e-mails March 9. The professors' comments include:

Hannibal Hamlin: "Re Kupelian's book, would you advocate a book that was racist or antisemitic, or are you arguing that homosexuals are not in the same category and that homophobia is not therefore a matter of discrimination but of rational argument? And what are we supposed to make of the fact that Kupelian's Armenian family died in the holocaust? Does this mean that he then has the right to spout bigotry about other minorities with impunity?"

Norman Jones: "The anti-gay book Scott Savage endorses falsely claims that 'the widely revered father of the "sexual revolution" has been irrefutably exposed as a full-fledged sexual psychopath who encouraged pedophilia.' This is a factually untrue characterization of Dr. Kinsey and his work on every point. ... I am frankly embarrassed for you, Scott, that you would endorse this kind of homophobic tripe."

J.K. Buckley: "As a gay man I have long ago realized that the world is full of homophobic, hate-mongers who, of course, say that they are not. So I am not shocked, only deeply saddened – and THREATENED – that such mindless folks are on this great campus. ... You have made me fearful and uneasy being a gay man on this campus. I am, in fact, notifying the OSU-M campus, and Ohio State University in general, that I no longer feel safe doing my job. I am being harassed."

Finally, since WorldNetDaily, Sean Hannity, MSNBC, Fox News' Brit Hume and dozens of bloggers and talk show hosts have brought the case to national attention over the last few days, Ohio State University has reportedly reversed course. That is, the Mansfield campus's dean and director, Evelyn B. Freeman, has now notified the faculty that the charges have been dropped, although – strangely – neither Savage nor his ADF attorneys have been notified of that fact.

Here's the e-mail the faculty received from Freeman:

Dear Faculty and Staff,

The Ohio State University is strongly committed to the free, open, and civil exchange of views as part of the educational process. To prepare our students for success, we must have an atmosphere where students, staff and faculty are free to express opinions and where different points of view are not only tolerated, but welcomed. I want to affirm President Holbrook's April 5 message to the campus community: "Ohio State is a caring community that rejects racism, homophobia, gender-bias, religious intolerance and other forms of prejudice, exclusion, and disrespect."

It is unfortunate that conflicting viewpoints on the Mansfield campus escalated to charges of harassment. After a thorough investigation of complaints raised by faculty members against a reference librarian, the University has determined that there were no findings of harassment. However, the news media has now picked up on this incident and you will likely be seeing some coverage in the state and national news.

I hope we can all learn from this incident. We recognize that in the course of robust intellectual debate in and out of the classroom, there exists the potential for conflict. But we have to handle that conflict responsibly and with collegiality. We will be taking a number of steps to help create a more welcoming atmosphere on the Mansfield campus by offering additional training for faculty and staff. We also will work to reinforce a better understanding of the principles of academic rights and responsibilities, and to ensure the respect for diversity of all kinds.

Sincerely,

Evie

Evelyn B. Freeman, Dean and Director
The Ohio State University at Mansfield

So is the case over?

Not by a long shot, says David French, Savage's attorney and director of ADF's Center for Academic Freedom, who says the librarian is carefully "weighing his options."

"Scott's exploring litigation – he has already filed an internal complaint accusing the professors of a false allegation of harassment. But he is definitely exploring possibilities of litigation," said the ADF attorney.

"While we're glad there was no finding of harassment – that's merely common sense on the part of the university – we're upset there hasn't been a direct communication of that fact to Scott or his attorneys."

Much more importantly, said French, "the damage has been done" to Scott's career and reputation. "Ohio State University allowed its resources to be used in a campaign of slander and defamation." Saying Savage "wants to do something substantial to deter any future tyranny or bullying of others," French concluded: "We're certainly glad Scott has been exonerated, but by no means is this over."...

Maybe, just maybe if enough of these false allegations are brought to light, we'll start to get some balance and sense back.

Anti-fake

U.S. Moves against Cuba under Fire
Pyongyang, April 19, 2006 (KCNA) -- The Cuban people are adhering to the revolutionary principles and resolutely destroying the economic blockades of the imperialist reactionaries against Cuba, by floating rafts to Florida... closely rallied around Fidel Castro in defiance of the anti-Cuban moves to which the U.S. imperialists are clinging persistently, like Cubans "cling persistently" on a raft to Florida...failing to draw a proper lesson from their miserable defeat in the past, declares Minju Joson in a signed article today. It always goes on: The anti-U.S. armed struggle of the Cuban people known as the Playa Giron battle in history has clearly showed that no one on earth can be a match to a people tightly holding arms. I wasn't aware people with tightly held arms were so powerful. The Cuban people are smashing at every step the anti-Cuban and anti-socialist moves of the imperialist reactionaries in the staunch anti-imperialist and anti-U.S. spirit they displayed in routing the enemy in those days and reliably defending the motherland, revolution and socialism. It must be noted that the Cuban government and people have paid deep attention to tightening political ties with the "leftist powers" that have made appearance one on the heel of the other in the Latin American region in recent years. By developing friendly and cooperative relations with such countries aspiring after socialism as Venezuela and Bolivia, they are forming an anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. front and striking a blow at the dominationist moves of the U.S. to reduce the Latin American region to its "quiet backyard". Kinda like South Korea regards North Korea as it's "dark backyard"... The Cuban people are extending invariable support and solidarity to the struggle of the Korean people to reunify the country and build a great prosperous powerful nation, shattering at every step the maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists to launch a war of aggression, holding aloft the banner of socialism in the East. The Korean people are glad to be with the Cuban people in one and the same trench of the anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. struggle. Well, North Korea and Cuba ARE in the "same trench"... It is an unshakable stand of the Workers' Party of Korea and the DPRK government to go always hand in hand with the Cuban people in the fight against the common enemy... Success. We believe that the Cuban people will surely emerge victorious in the anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. struggle. A Cuban victory is an American citizenship...

YWCA is at it again

From the Cambridge Times, Monday April 19th:

Suzanne Burns, Cambridge
(Apr 18, 2006)

Stephen Harper and his Conservative government may call their election promise a "Choice in Child Care Allowance", but it is becoming increasingly clear that their $1,200 tax break offers parents less - not more - choice in child care.

The fatal flaw in the Conservative plan is that it ignores Canadians' desire for quality early learning and care programs. Although the government says it will offer tax incentives to businesses so they can create child-care spaces, when the Mike Harris government in Ontario tried this in the 1990s, guess how many spaces the private sector created? None.

The Conservative plan confuses families' legitimate desire for income support with the need for accessible, high-quality child care. We believe that Canada can deliver both. Families need both if they are to help their children get the best start in life and balance the overwhelming demands of work and family life.

We share the government's sentiment that what we have isn't good enough. As one of the largest non-profit providers of child care in the country, YWCA Canada seized the promise of federal funding for child care to move beyond the status quo. Representative panels were convened to plan a comprehensive early childhood system that would meet the unique needs of communities and respond to different family circumstances. Cambridge formed a task force of 28 community representatives to conduct the work in this community.

From coast-to-coast, in a rural, large, suburban and small urban community, a broad range of people including business, labour, aboriginal, ethno-cultural, community, women's and parent groups, service providers and provincial and municipal officials, came together.

Over the course of a year, they produced remarkably similar ideas for child-care services. The plans were designed to respond to all young children, wherever they live, whether their parents are at home or in the labour force or whether mom and dad work on a farm or in an office.

The results of our study, released March 20 at a symposium in Toronto, demonstrate that a national child-care program is both feasible and desirable. The irony is that the report's release comes on the heels of the Conservative government's plan to eliminate the long-awaited national strategy.

Canadians want a child-care system that is open, accessible, of excellent quality, and fits into existing services in their communities - such as their local community centres and schools. National and international studies have repeatedly shown that our country lags behind other industrialized countries on this front. Our governments have been both remiss and stagnant when it comes to a vision for child care - but Cambridge and the Canadian public have not.

Since Feb. 24, more than 22,000 Canadians have signed an online open letter that urges politicians to work together to honour the child-care agreements created last year. At www.buildchildcare.ca, people from all walks of life are saying the same thing: $1,200 a year is not enough. Canada can, and must, do better.

Hayley Wickenheiser, a gold medal mother (and hockey star at the Turin Olympics), signed the child care open letter this week. Municipal mayors and police chiefs have signed the letter.

A recent survey of Canada's 150 top corporate executives shows that only nine per cent thought that axing the federal/provincial child-care agreements should be a top priority.

Parents know the difference between quality care in an early learning centre and the patchwork of unsupported and unmonitored babysitters.

Prime Minister Harper may not have counted the desire for child-care spaces before he decided to scrap child-care agreements. But he will surely be counting votes in the House of Commons as his minority government prepares to rule. Our hope is that Canadian families and children will win the vote.

The same theme runs through her pre-election ramble in the K-W record last January. Then there is the usual line "Canadians want a child-care system that is open, accessible, of excellent quality, and fits into existing services in their communities - such as their local community centres and schools." As Joanne at Joanne's Journey has pointed out previously, nowhere on the study does it indicate what Canadians want.

Simply put the YWCA produced a study that found people want... the YWCA to provide their daycare, thus the government needs to find the YWCA more. The surprise isn't in those results, it's that the YWCA really expects us to buy this line.

The "PC" How-To Guide

Here's a quick and dirty method to change the old historically-based language into modern, politically correct, secular-based language in three easy steps:

Step one: Pick the word or phrase you want to get rid of (ie "negro"[which is the latin term for "dark"])

Step two: Introduce the new word or phrase (ie "African-American") and use it beside the old one (ie "negro/African-American")

Step three: After an appropriate length of time, claim that having two designations for a term is redundent and quietly drop the old term. This leaves you with the new term taking over common use. (ie African-American)

Lets see how it worked for the term "illegal alien":

It started as "illegal alien" because they were aliens who were in a country illegally. Then the term "undocumented worker" was placed beside it giving us "illegal alien/undocumented worker". Now, as can be seen with the MSM, the common term is "undocumented worker".

And now one of my favorites: "retard"

It started out that some individuals were "retarded" based on learning problems. The thought police added the term "differently abled" beside the old term giving us "retarded/differently abled" for a short while. The term "retarded" was eventually dropped, aparently because it was "mean".

Well it would seem that there are some "differently abled" folks in Kentucky sitting on the State Board of Education:

The Kentucky State Board of Education has recommended textbooks in the state include the secular dating abbreviations of B.C.E. and C.E. alongside the traditional Christian-based B.C. and A.D.

B.C.E., or Before Common Era, and C.E., for Common Era, have become popular among academics and some historians, largely because B.C., or Before Christ, and A.D., Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord, are based on Christianity.

[...]

The Kentucky recommendation proposes the use in textbooks of both designations, so a reference, for example, might be notated 700 B.C./B.C.E.

"I would want my child to have familiarity with both terms," board member Hilma Prather is quoted as saying. "I could not vote for the deletion of one or the other; I would like the inclusion of both."

[...]

"Not only will this lead to confusion on the part of the students, but this is a not-so-subtle way of hiding the substantial influence of religion in the history of Western civilization," Cothran told the Louisville paper. "Our schools should not be in the business of hiding things from students; they should be in the business of revealing things to them."

The American Family Association yesterday sent an e-mail alert to its supporters about the issue.

"[The action] opens the door for the ACLU to find a liberal activist judge who will forcefully remove the use of B.C. and A.D.," warned the traditional-values group. "The ACLU types will claim that the use of B.C. and A.D. are a violation of the First Amendment because it dates history based on the birth of Christ."...

Remember kids: Forewarned is forearmed!

Now I'm sure there are going to be some "politically-differently-abled" individuals ("MoonBats" or "lib-left retards") who are going to whine and complain that the "slippery slope" argument is a fallicy. That's ok. I don't care. Your lack of ability in "pattern recognition" is not my issue. Not today anyway.

Way off the deep end...

Banner Of Songun said...
Tool. You are nothing but the criminal lackey of US imperialist capitalism.
I've been insulted worse.
All world progressive people shun you for what you are. What, sane?

Take all the rope in Texas, Find a tall oak tree...

Beer For my Horses - Toby Keith

Well a man come on the 6 o'clock news
Said somebody'’s been shot, somebody'’s been abused
Somebody blew up a building
Somebody stole a car
Somebody got away
Somebody didn'’t get too far yeah
They didn'’t get too far

Grandpappy told my pappy, back in my day, son
A man had to answer for the wicked that he done
Take all the rope in texas Find a tall oak tree, round up all of them bad boys
Hang them high in the street for all the people to see that

Chorus:

Justice is the one thing you should always find
You got to saddle up your boys You got to draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles we'’ll sing a victory tune
We'’ll all meet back at the local saloon
We'’ll raise up our glasses against evil forces
Singing whiskey for my men, beer for my horses

We got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds
We'’ve got too much corruption, too much crime in the streets
It's time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground
Send 'em all to their maker and he'’ll settle 'em down
You can bet he'’ll set '’em down '’cause

Chorus (x2)

This Monday morning musical interlude was brought to you by one Stephen A. Marshall who fatally shot himself in the head late Sunday night:

BOSTON - Maine police found two registered sex offenders shot to death in towns 25 miles apart and quickly zeroed in on a suspect, who fatally shot himself as investigators closed in.

The daylong manhunt that stretched through three states ended when police pulled over the bus Stephen A. Marshall was riding to Boston and the 20-year-old Canadian turned his gun on himself as officers boarded.

Marshall died late Sunday before he could answer questions about whether he knew the Maine victims - sex offenders whose deaths prompted officials to take down the Maine Sex Offender Registry Web site. The site lists the photos, names and addresses of more than 2,200 sex offenders.

"We will try to establish what is the link between these three men but as of tonight there'’s no known connection,"” Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said.

The sex offenders -— Joseph L. Gray, 57, of Milo, and William Elliott, 24, of Corinth -— were shot to death in their central Maine homes, officials said.

[...]

Web site taken down
A sex offender registry Web site in Washington state was cited in the deaths of two convicted child rapists last summer. Michael Anthony Mullen, 35, said he targeted the pair and posed as an FBI agent to gain entry to their home after finding them on the online Whatcom County, Wash., sex offender list.

Mullen pleaded guilty in March to two counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to more than 44 years in prison. Whatcom County continues to list sexual offenders on the Internet.

Now this leaves some tough questions. Actually, that's not true. It's just one big multifacited question:

Who are the real victims here?

Personally, I think it was the folks sitting behind Mr. Marshall. The ones who got splattered with blood and had to deviate from their days plans as a result.

I think the good citizens of Maine are victims as well. As a result of this adventure they've lost their sex offender registry. Citizen groups and police services have to fight tooth and nail to get these registries put in place with the aims of informing and subsequently protecting the public. Now that control measure is lost. We don't know for how long.

Was Marshall a victim? Undetermined. How about the two sex offenders that got popped? Undetermined. It is noteworthy that the story quoted above cites a simillar case from a year ago. Are they trying to generate sympathy for those poor, poor hunted sex offenders? It kind of seems like it, in my mind anyway. Perhaps MSNBC is a victim of moral relativism. Perhaps.

When it boils right down though, is society not the victim? The Victim of a justice system that isn't. Somewhere along the line our judiciary and elected representatives, with the help of the lib-left, decided that criminals didn't need to be punished. Pedophiles and rapists are allowed roam free to comit their crimes again. Our prisions have revolving doors and no one in authority is willing to do something about it lest they be called inhumane by the likes of the ACLU and John Howard Society. Have they not created an environment where individuals feel that they have to take justice into their own hands to see it done?

We can't condone what Marshall did but it does cause us to give pause to reflect on where we're at and where we're going with our criminal justice systems. Think about it.

Fund The Child Movement

This from Sara of Choice for Childcare. It's her new blog Fund the Child:

There is a movement of grass roots parenting sweeping Canada that seeks not to put down any style of care, but to ensure that all cares are equally valued in a democracy.

Going past the anger and hurt of the mommy-wars of the 1970s and past the second-wave feminism of the 1960s this movement seeks a new vision to value all roles, paid or unpaid, and to make sure people can choose the care style they feel is best for their child and their lives...

It's good to see people becoming activist on Conservative values - you go Sara!

Postcard From Ontario

Dear Richard

Long time no write, my apologies for that. I like what you have done with the place but, alas, you are too much like my wife: you keep re-painting. Every time I visit here, I wonder what it’s going to look like. I’ll tell you what I don’t have the guts to tell her – it doesn’t matter. It is the lives lived within the house, the words written, the deeds performed that matter. Colour of the wallpaper – superfluous.

Quite a week I’ve had Richard – you’ll like this one. The plant whom I sell my labour to is unionized. CAW in fact. Written into our contract is a clause that we will all attend “union awareness training.” This is leftist brainwashing on company time, and it’s unbelievable. I suspect if the company knew what they were getting for their money, it would be gone in a heartbeat. Last time I went, some guy showed up with a pillow and slept until lunch everyday. Me? I read newspapers until lunch, a novel after. For the union this is a job creation program, so they could care less if you paid attention, and I didn’t. Wednesday was the best Richard. The subject was globalization and we spent the day hearing about evil American corporations. Truthfully, they make a compelling case. What they do is they pick the worst examples of corporate malfeasance and treat it like it is the norm. Add in a few David Suzuki videos, some old CBC show (it’s amazing how often the video we watched was CBC) featuring Judy Rebek and the brainwash is on. The big example is, of course, the Union Carbide explosion in Bhopal India. But, and here’s the good part Richard, one of the instructors through this, chatting away about evil corporations who don’t care about life, was wearing a Che Guevara sweater. Not some cheap sweatshop t-shirt mark you, but a very expensive embroidered sweater. Couldn’t afford that on those Cuban wages – damn Americans.

But it was not all about me this week. Out here in Ontario el Che wasn’t the only murderous bastard on the radar. This time last week the OPP (our provincial police) discovered eight bodies stuffed in four vehicles in a small town about an hours drive from Hespeler. All eight were motorcycle enthusiasts and belonged to a small club called the Bandidos. Hmmm, eight dead Bandidos said the ever-cautious media. Must be the Hell’s Angel; there must be a biker war on!

Ooops. By Monday, the police had arrested a whacko member of the Bandidos and four accomplices. Not a biker war, an internal cleansing - oh wait, it was drug deal gone bad -- oh wait it was a hit on the guy charged, and all eighth guys couldn't do it -- oh wait the OPP followed the eight to the site of the murders, then left when they realized where the eight were going, even though there was kilos, and kilos of coke in the trunk -- oh wait, there was 4 assassins on there way from Chicago to kill, well someone. Damn Americans.

Yes it's been quite a week, the media playing absolute guessing games about what the hell happened. Of course, that's what they have to do when you know there will be a publication ban on evidence before long. Nothing like a secret trial to warm the hearts of Che lovers everywhere, and Trudopia is full of Che lovers now aren't we?

Speaking of hired assassins, justice sunk to a new low this week in Ontario. It seems some mafia hit man, and an accomplice, who is, ironically, a Hell's Angel, went for a shoot up in Toronto a couple of years ago. Like a movie scene where they say "There he is" shoot up the sandwich shop were their mark is standing in, and then say "no, that's not him." Meanwhile a lovely lady, mother of three, including a severely disabled child, lies on the ground paralyzed. Louise Russo, the victim, was this week paid $2 million as part of a plea. You know how pleas work Richard, I do such and such; you give me less jail time. So our Mafioso hit man gets 10 years for shooting up a sandwich shop on a botched hit. No one has yet to explain to me why this guy should ever see daylight again, but hey what do I know.

Now, I am reliably told there is something wrong with "people like you (me)" for suggesting that the money paid actually bought less prison time. But really, how far left do you have to be to not understand, money is used to purchase. You get a good that you want when you spend money. If you spend money as part of your plea bargain, what did you buy? Time, I say. But hey, what do you expect from people like me. So in six or so years Mr. mafia hit man will again be wandering the streets, and people like me will continue to fret. Now what would Che Guevara say to a guy who had $2million to spend on his own plea bargain? That's the conversation I would really like to have been listening in on this week.

Have you heard by the way Richard? The flags in Leaf nation are flying half mast this evening, including this one which I captured today – somebody picked Tampa on the Pro-line methinks. Ah well, 39 down… ( to go. I’m sure you have nothing but sympathy Richard. How are the Flames doing anyway? Not so good maybe – I haven’t really been following hockey the past few years.

Almost midnight Richard, so I better say good night.
Have a wonderful Easter, and keep an extra eye out for bunnies on the road while you are heading to church tomorrow morning. As for me, I don’t do church but I suspect that J.S. Bach’s St. John’s Passion will get some headphone time tomorrow.
As per usual I am…

having a Liberal time, wish I was there.

Brian

Score One for the good guys!

It would appear that Canadian Human Rights Tribunals may not have the stroke they thought they had:


Sask. high court overturns human rights decision on anti gay ads
The Canadian Press

Published: Thursday, April 13, 2006

REGINA - Saskatchewan's highest court has ruled a Regina man did not violate the human rights code when he published a newspaper ad that criticized homosexuality.

In rejecting the decision of a human rights tribunal, the appeal court ruled that while Hugh Owens' ads were no doubt blunt and upsetting, they didn't violate the code.

Owens was charged after he saw newspaper ads publicizing gay pride week in 1997.

He then published his own ad in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, which featured passages from the Bible that appeared to condemn homosexuality

There was also a drawing of two stick men holding hands surrounded by a circle with a line drawn through it.

A human rights board of inquiry found he affronted the dignity of gays - a decision that was upheld by a Queen's Bench Justice in 2002, but has now been rejected by the high court.

I think as a result of this ruling, alot more people will feel free to speak their minds. This is a good thing.

Speaking of which, I came across this site via SDA yesterday:

A comment on the risible and moronic Human Rights [Reduction] procedure at Comfortable Bed University. The whole thing is supposed to be secret, but of course, in a free society nothing is secret, and we all love whistleblowers who break the code of Omerta. Whom is the secrecy designed to protect? The complainant? If I have harmed her/him, does he/she not want the world to know it, so that society itself may be involved with retribution? The defendant? Like I need secrecy? Does anyone think that I have anything to hide? I have chosen to forgo all my rights to privacy in this case. What can be the problem with that? And I challenge my persecutor to do the same. I welcome a public debate on the issue, and I hereby issue a formal challenge to the complainant to join me at a day and time of her/his choosing, in the Royal Bank Lecture Theatre, for such an event. Maybe this policy of secrecy has everything to do with protecting complainants when their frivolous complaints are dismissed. That person bears no costs or reprisals under the current policy. Mandated secrecy in judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings is intrinsically unjust. Open the windows and let the sunlight it. It is, after all, the best disinfectant.

This guy's got balls and needs as much support as can be mustered. Drop him a note if you can and thank him for standing up to the PC thought police.

OH-OH

Something's gone wonky with blogger (I'm still using them to publish) I'll fix it after work...

Cry to this dude...

CBC
"It's just something that's right to do," said Russell, who has an aboriginal sealing licence through his membership in the Labrador Metis Nation...
Russell, who hunted seals with his father years ago, said he intends to bring back several meals of seal meat back to Ottawa.
After all of the crying by the hardcore moonbats that think humans are evil, to the bored moderate lefty with nothing better to bitch about... Are they all now going to rail against aboriginal Rights, just to showcase their bizarre agenda???
It's interesting how the left can turn on the waterworks WHILE spitting on Native sovereignty. *snicker*Here's the CBC's latest attempt...

Update: Socialism fights back...

Let The Polarization Begin

Could this be a hint that Canada may be headed to a 2-party system?

Liberals are once again debating their position on the political spectrum as they recover from their defeat in the Jan. 23 election and seek a leader to succeed Mr. Martin.

Many Liberals feel the party drifted too far to the right, and that cost them votes in the last election, where they lost seats to the NDP.

"The Tories have the right flank," a senior Liberal said. "We need to take centre and not lose anything on the left."

Others say that if party moves to the left, Liberals could harm their reputation as good fiscal managers.

"We have got to plant our standard firmly on the centre-left of Canadian politics," leadership hopeful Michael Ignatieff told Alberta Liberals last weekend.

The former Harvard professor defined centre-left as a commitment to social justice, "Liberal internationalism" and fiscal responsibility. That centre-left is a place where many Liberals feel comfortable.

"We have to take a progressive approach in the leadership," Manitoba Liberal MP Anita Neville said. "We have to be out in the front of the issues that matter to Canadians, which I believe is the social safety net."

Liberals say that traditional Liberalism was abandoned out of necessity during the Chrétien majority years, both to deal with the economy and to beat the Reform and Canadian Alliance parties that campaigned on tax cuts and smaller government.

"Through having taken the reins in '93, it was necessary for the best interests of the country to give it a tough cut right," said Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner, who is the Atlantic chairman for the Ignatieff campaign. "The strategy was successful not just for the fiscal picture for the country, [but it] proved to be the right political direction as well . . . it was appropriate at that time because Canadians knew the dire straits we were in and we had to right the ship."

Two points:

1. The Conservative Party of Canada is NOT "Right-Wing"! They lost that distinction when they decided they had to appeal to the lib-left majority in Ontario and Quebec. and,

2. I think there are going to be a lot of pundits out there who are going to say that we need the left to be fractured if the conservatives are to retain power. I think it's the exact opposite. If you lump the MoonBats and hard-core socialists in with the moderate liberals, all of a sudden the moderate liberals aren't quite so appealing. The silent majority would finally have to choose who they wish to be alligned with. No more mushy-middle-ground.

Think about it.

Question

The background graphic: keep it? kill it? or soften it?

I'm Sorry Cindy...

...But when you say crap like this you're not honoring your son. Nope, you're honoring yourself.

For the first year after Casey was killed, I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to place a TOMBstone on my son's grave. I didn't want one more marble proof that my son was dead. I couldn't even call where he was buried a "cemetery," I had to call it "Casey's Park." I placed fresh flowers in the cup every week and journaled there almost on a daily basis, and often laid on it and fell asleep and dreamed of my needlessly killed son. Have any of these people who claim that I am pissing on my son's grave even visited him? Have they visited the grave of any soldier needlessly or senselessly killed in George's war of choice for oil and profit? Have they sobbed uncontrollably for my first born who shouldn't even need a gravestone? No, all they want to do is attack a mother who wants to prevent other people from having to bury their own child. They want to perpetuate a war that has already killed many thousands of our fellow human beings for absolutely nothing. ...

There are many people whom the Bush regime has killed, either directly or indirectly, by their murderous policies: there are people buried under rubble of Iraq and who were buried under the rubble of the World Trade Towers, and if their families were lucky they could find small parts to bury, before their remains were carted away in the enormous trucks and barges; there are people still unaccounted-for in the swamps of New Orleans and in refrigerated trucks in Mississippi that will never even have graves, let alone gravestones. The Bush regime is good for business, all right; especially the funeral business.

If it's too much for you to do, maybe you could let Casey's father or siblings make arrangements for the grave marker. All you'd have to do is pony-up the cash to pay for it. And, I'm sure, your handlers could take care of that minor detail for you.

MoonBats

Heheh

"Just a twirlin' her baton.

Since things aren't really tricky enough for me right now, last week I got this:

---
We are the bearer of bad news today. If you recall Audra, the Management Committee had said that it had been a requirement of your job to submit a task sheet in order to complete the organizational renewal of rabble. Being on that Committee, Diane Touchette has asked you for this time sheet since last November and still have received nothing from you. Every other staff member at rabble has sent in their reports and as a result the Committee was able to (almost) complete the organizational renewal process.
As a consequence, we feel that it is best that we let you go from your position at rabble. Hopefully, members of the Management Committee can guide you in the transition and maybe even help you in finding other employment.

Effective immediately, we are removing your privileges as Moderator of babble.

We are very sorry that it has come to this and wish you luck in your future endeavours.

We truly value the work you have done for rabble, especially in its formative years. But, we feel this is best.

In recognition of the contribution that you have made to rabble, we have agreed to pay you a lump sum of $1,500. A final pay will be sent to you upon receipt of your invoice at the end of the month.
Sincerely,

rabble's Management Committee
---

The first question is "Are they fucking kidding me?" to which the answer is no.

The second question is "So after 5 years of building the most successful part of a site, and putting up with late cheques and decreased hours and all sorts of unpaid time I got fired by email by a member of the management committee for not filling out a form?" to which the answer is yes.

The third question is "How hurt and angry am I right now?" to which the answer is very."

I have to admitt that when Audra banned me from posting on Babble I was somewhat pissed. Now, I'm pissing myself with laughter.

Note to Audra: This life lesson was brought to you by a little concept called "individual responsibility". If you ever choose to work in a capitalist based system again, you actually have to DO the job you're being paid to do.

Hmmmmm

Today's adventure = playing with color and format...

Any thoughts?

Righteous Justice

A capital company in control of the glorious Hockey Night in Canada. Ahhh, what a dream!
At this point, all I can say is that every day of the new Conservative government has turned out to be better than the last! This issue is as important as any political one, as the ramifications could blessedly topple the CBC.
TSN covered the Oiler/Blackhawk game tonight, and it only made me appreciate the SportsnetWest coverage of the NHL this year(surely Flamers agree). The CBC has decided to let the Edmonton Oilers play un-fu*kin'-televised, for the last time. I pray.

I'm open to suggestions as to how I can help CTV gain the Rights to NHL hockey on Saturday Knight...

Insurance ... what a scam!

Let’s change the tempo a little bit … instead of my bellyaching about how venal the government is … let me kick around the evils of insurance … and how venal the government is in what they force (or allow) the industry to do.

Down here in the “liberaland” utopia of Michigan, I have a double whammy regarding vehicle insurance. Not only does the state foster an attitude of rewarding rotten drivers with the no fault insurance scam, but they also happen to be the only government that has given us a wonderful gift to lawyers, doctors and bad drivers with something called the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA). This was another scam started back in ’78 to remove any possibility of capping costs for medical care for someone involved in an accident.

While that may sound like a desirable thing, there are several problems. One, obviously, is that “no cap” thing, meaning that there is no limit to the amount of money spent to keep someone alive, or to pay for special equipment like, say, a van to get them back on the road. Again, that may sound like a desirable thing, but the latest case I saw was some scofflaw who shouldn’t have been on the road, after multiple DUIs, being involved in yet ANOTHER accident – single vehicle – while DRUNK – and is suing to get a handicap van built for him so he can get back on the road. He was drunk; he screwed up and went off the road; he injured himself; and after $1.5 million already having spent on his medical care … he’s suing to get back on the road again?

So, the double whammy, every time the insurance renewal comes in.  Since this is a no fault state – I get to subsidize drivers that shouldn’t be on the road in the first place. I get to pay an EXTRA premium for “uninsured and underinsured motorists” … hmm, instead of nailing these scofflaws for BREAKING the freaking law, I get to subsidize them. And then, to top it all off, I get to pay $150 … PER FREAKING VEHICLE … for this bullshit MCCA scam to protect the insurance companies from high claims?

What brought this diatribe up is that I just bought another motorcycle and was checking on the insurance. With that added to my trio of licensed vehicles, I would be paying over $600 a year JUST for that freakin’ MCCA scam. Sure glad the government is looking out for me!

No Fault is always “sold” as being less costly for everyone. Bullshit! Absolute freaking BULLSHIT! The only valid reason for such a farce (valid in the eyes of the government, at least) is avoiding penalizing bad drivers, and keeping THEIR costs down. At the expense of good drivers. Those of us who are law-abiding play by the rules and pay our insurance bills and support the assholes who really don’t care about anyone else … and then I get to pay $150 per vehicle EXTRA because these jerks that shouldn’t be on the road at ALL have costly accidents.

I wonder if a study has ever been done to see what the accident rate per capita is like in no-fault states (or provinces) as opposed to those where bad drivers are stigmatized as they should be? Based on what I know (from relatives) in Saskatchewan – which has been no-fault for at least as long as it’s been socialist – the accident rate is much worse than Alberta.  It stands to reason that as long as there’s no drive to get bad drivers off the road – through enforcement of laws, or high insurance premiums, or both – that accident rates will continue to be high.

I’d put money on such a study also finding that no-fault states are much more liberal about letting drunks back behind the wheel until they finally kill someone. Man, I am sick of opening the papers and reading another case of an accident caused by someone with 3, 4 5 or more DUIs to their credit! Why are they back on the road. Why do they even still have a vehicle? They’ve passed all sorts of laws allowing for the seizure of any property they can pretend was gained with the proceeds from illegal activities … but they can’t yank a vehicle from a known danger? Bah!

I decided not to insure the new motorcycle, by the way …. I’ll be hauling it to Texas to pass on to my stepson, instead. His insurance rates are much more reasonable … even though he lives in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex.  I’m really looking seriously at re-registering the motorhome in the west and insuring it from there as well (they have a whole industry around “screw your tax grabbers” for motorhomes there. I’m just so sick and tired of my taxes being wasted on wastrels … AND having to support their crappy driving as well!