Sister Sage's Musings

Archive for the ‘Religion’ Category

How Conveeenient!!  Dana Carvey’s the Churchlady would say on Saturday Night Live in the 80s & early 90s.  As puritanical as the Church lady was, one has to wonder if  she would have been as nutty as Pastor Terrence Jones of Gainesville, Florida is.  He’s the wingnut who plans to commemorate 9/11 in a whole new way–by burning the Quran.  Ain’t that special? I see that  the Evangelicals of America still haven’t given up the traditions of good ol’ fashioned book burnings of literature that just doesn’t suit their puritanical maintenance of ignorance and in many cases, white supremacy.

General Petreaus  has already come out against this event, citing that this would endanger the lives of  the troops fighting in Afghanistan.

But with about 120,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops still battling al Qaeda and its allies in the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement, Petraeus warned that burning Qurans “is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems — not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community.”

And one of his deputies, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, told CNN’s “The Situation Room” that the event “has already stirred up a lot of discussion and concern” among Afghans.

“We very much feel that this can jeopardize the safety of our men and women that are serving over here in the country,” said Caldwell, the head of NATO efforts to train Afghan security forces.

Caldwell said American troops “are over here to defend the rights of American citizens, and we’re not debating the First Amendment rights that people have.” But he added, “What I will tell you is that their very actions will in fact jeopardize the safety of the young men and women who are serving in uniform over here and also undermine the very mission that we’re trying to accomplish.”

Of course, much of the right wingnut faction, including, of course, Kathy Shaidle, and this fool who really shouldn’t be loose in society,  much like Stevie Spiteful, show how they stop supporting the troops when it’s no longer conveeenient for them to do so. In fact, the latter has his own way of directing General Petraeus:

Petraeus would do better to tell the Afghans that in America we have freedom of speech and expression, and that we put up with speech and expression that we dislike without trying to kill the speaker. He would do better to tell them that their likely murderous rage over this event is an outrageous overreaction, and that any bloodshed over this would be a heinous crime, far dwarfing any crime they think the people in Florida are committing.

Oh yeah! Better still, Robert of “Jihad Watch”, since you claim to know more about how to run a war and conduct NATO troops in this effort, how’s you enlist and fly down to Afghanistan and you just go and tell the good general how it’s done? Even better still, how’s about you tell the Taliban and whomever else you perceive to be the “enemy” what you just said above and everything else in that blog of your’s and let’s see exactly how well that would go over?

Our dear self-designated Jihad vigilante doesn’t quit while he’s behind:

Petraeus should be defending the Florida church’s right to do as they please, and using it as a teaching moment in Afghanistan to say, We are going to defend our vision of society, no matter what you bring against us.

More like impose your vision of society, it would seem. Ok, then, we’ll see if his “subjects” would be fast learners here.  Say they adapt DeBeauxOs of Dammit Janet’s massively excellent idea and they burn bibles. I would also add that they should burn Torahs.  I wonder how our Jihad vigilante, Robert would feel about that? After all, it’s what your vision of society that you’re imposing on others is all about, right? Burning books you just don’t like?

As for Jesus Christ, well, he has been twisted around to suit the new right, hasn’t he? I mean, let’s face it, he’s just been too damned liberal with his healing the sick, helping the poor and teaching about love and peace toward our fellow man.  It is why Andy Schlafly is rewriting the bible, isn’t he?

And now, Pastor Jones  has told ABC News in a special interview that

If Jesus Christ were here today, he would support burning the Quran.

I guess Jesus Christ doesn’t support the troops neither, or at the very least, shouldn’t, if he were still among us (I’m aware that many of my readers are non-believers and when I do blog about Jesus, I’m not imposing my views on anyone).

I wonder how Robert, the Jihadist vigilante feels about the 9/11 first responders having had their health care funding cut by 77%  and, in December of 2007, when Dubya cancelled a health monitoring and treatment program for Ground Zero workers?  Does Pastor Jones think Jesus Christ would have supported that in his psychotic mind? I wonder why Pastor Jones doesn’t commemorate 9/11 in a more constructive fashion like raising money through his church to help these victims and their families? Oh yeah! That would be evul soshalism, now wouldn’t it?

In the wonderful delusional world according to the evangelical far right cult and their flock like Pastor Jones and Andy Schlafly as well bungling fools like the socon element here in Canada, Jesus Christ is whomever they would like him to be; whatever suits their whims.  I wonder if Pastor Jones and his ilk even knows how to read; let alone read the bible. After all, actually sitting down and taking the time to read it before Schlafly and his Conservapedia friends butcher it beyond recognition, would just be inconveeeenient.

Either that, or he must be making a list of all those “rabid lefties” and “anti-semites” over on Twitter.  He has just left us with a warning about his new Sun column come this Tuesday.  Wait a minute! Didn’t he and the Sun part company in 2007? Ah yes, this is the new guard which advocates “locking and loading”; he should be their star.

Anyway, he is ranting about George Soros, a billionaire who spends his money on left winged agendas. More specifically, ol’ Ezzy’s got his intestinal tract twisted in a pretzel because of Soros’ supposed  ”Nazi” activities during the Holocaust. He is referring to this interview on Sixty Minutes.

KROFT: My understanding is that you went out with this protector of yours who swore that you were his adopted godson.

Mr. SOROS: Yes. Yes.

KROFT: Went out, in fact, and helped in the confiscation of property from the Jews.

Mr. SOROS: Yes. That’s right. Yes.

KROFT: I mean, that’s — that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many years. Was it difficult?

Mr. SOROS: Well, of course I c — I could be on the other side or I could be the one from whom the thing is being taken away. But there was no sense that I shouldn’t be there, because that was — well, actually, in a funny way, it’s just like in markets — that if I weren’t there — of course, I wasn’t doing it, but somebody else would — would — would be taking it away anyhow. And it was the — whether I was there or not, I was only a spectator, the property was being taken away. So the — I had no role in taking away that property. So I had no sense of guilt.

Mr. SOROS: Not — not at all. Not at all. Maybe as a child you don’t — you don’t see the connection. But it was — it created no — no problem at all.

KROFT: No feeling of guilt?

Mr. SOROS: No.

KROFT: For example that, ‘I’m Jewish and here I am, watching these people go. I could just as easily be there. I should be there.’ None of that?

You see, Ezzy, of course, will believe anything his beloved Ann Coulter spews.  His beloved Ann, who, as we remember, believes that Jews need to be “perfected” and I imagine ol’ Ezzy is included in this badly needed improvement category.

Rich for ol’ Ezzy to go neanderthal on a scared 14 year old in hiding and doing what he needed to do to survive while losing much of his family and watching the attrocities around him.

Really rich for Ol’ Ezzy, considering he so proudly and vigorously defended Marc Lemire,  a known white supremacist who worked with  the likes of neo-Nazi leader,  Paul Fromm, called a bigot by the NattyPo’s  Johnny Kay, of all people, for Gawd’s sake and former president of the Heritage Front, a Neo-Nazi organization, until it disbanded in 2005, against a  Canadian Human Rights Commission, striking down Section 13. Yes, kids, he was feeling festive about it and probably still does to this day.  All about free speech, supposedly.

What a hypocrite! He chastises George Soros for events he had no control of as a teen-ager, but vigorously defends thugs like Marc Lemire, who chose their own twisted, psychotic, bigoted paths in life and would more than likely defend other such neo-Nazis and holocaust deniers in his quest to stay relevant and attempt to close down Human Rights Commissions.

Between his defense of white supremacist neo-Nazis, his known bashing of B’nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress, & his pathetic school boy admiration of Ann Coulter, one has to wonder who the anti-semite really is?

One also has to wonder if ol’ Ezzy would still be turning purple over Soros’ past if he were funding the tea-bagger movement along with the Koch brothers and/or World Net Daily instead of Media Matters?

I wonder if this will get me on his Anti-Semite hit list now? I’m starting to feel lonely.

H/T Rusty Idols

What is is it with white conservative losers when they don’t get their way invoking Martin Luther King? We, in Canada, saw it not long ago with the bimbo, Sa-wah Palin look-a-like, Sarah Landriault when she discovered she couldn’t jump to the top of the employment ladder with no marketable skills, certificates, education or experience. That was nothing short of dispicable.

Then, we saw not only Glenn Beck and Sa-wah Palin, herself, scheduling their wingnutty hate festivities on the anniversary of Dr. King’s march for civil rights in the US, but actually invoke him to push their all white, Christian, intolerant, far right agenda. Man, Dr. King must be turning over in his grave about now. As Boris over at The Galloping Beaver describes this ironic message of Palin (and Beck’s):

It doesn’t need to be said that Palin’s “restoration” would seek a return the America that squeezed the trigger on MLK.

Disturbing doesn’t even begin to describe the theme of “Restoration of Honor”.  What I don’t get is why Alveda King would’ve even entertained the idea of speaking at Beck and Palin’s hate festivities. She must be the relative they don’t talk about.

However, unlike the 9/12 festivities of last year, I don’t think this tea-party had the energy. In fact, it’s to the point where I wonder if the tea-bagging movement is becoming a passing fad.

As yet another Glenn Beck extravaganza drew nearer, this time with Sa-wah Palin, I was looking forward to checking out the colourful misspelled signs of all shapes and sizes with such hateful, yet such stupid slogans as to be somewhat amusing. Call it morbid curiosity, much like the way many will stop to watch the aftermath of a car crash or train wreck.  I would learn that Glenn Beck had banned signs for the occasion, but that didn’t seem to stop a few from doing just that. Check out the link: a great diary with some amusing slogans.

I was checking the Twitter feed and the American blogs as well as some online media pages for some mishap or misstep, but, again, not much. Checked out Sa-wah Palin’s speech; but turned it off as I felt a migraine coming on. Honestly, she just has one of those voices that can feel like she’s drilling nails in your head.  She was just boring this time. Stupid can be funny, but Sa-wah has ceased being funny since comparing herself to William Shakespeare last month.

For me, to summarize the Glenn Beck / Sa-wah Palin extravaganza; boring! One big snore! And I don’t seem to be alone, neither. So much for all of Beck’s predictions of this extravaganza being the “turning point” and  “defibrillator on the heart of America”. I suggest you click that link and read Glenn’s predictions on how “miraculous” this event would be: I think that’s the most entertaining part of it: it all just went to snoozeville from there. Much of the audience looked like they could use a jolt of that defibrillator. So boring!

Other than the fact that Glenn Beck was wearing a kevlar vest under his shirt, his speech at first didn’t seem to offer anything of entertainment value and the audience was quite subdued. Then I read Jymn’s piece last night, where he observed Beck changing directions; one toward the more evangelical. I listened to the speech again and I have to say that Jymn is probably on to something.

He has turned his evil upside down so that it looks smiley face Stepford wive-ish. He has presented his rally as an open book (mostly the bible) for all people to join. The only stipulation it would seem is that you are all very, very religious, preferably Christian. He asked attendees to leave their signs at home (like true Beckbots, most did – great response from NAACP: “Dr. King never had to ask his followers to leave hateful signs and guns at home”.)

Beck made pains too to make the rally about the troops, of course. All immaculately planned and organized, Beck’s rally positions the tea party and the radical right to further their goals in turning the US into a theocracy.

Well, if as Jymn suggests, Beck is going from pathetic pundit to Revvin’ Reverend, I don’t think even that will succeed for too long. Hell, his message might have sounded outrageous and hateful, but he didn’t say anything different than what other American televangelists over the years have been spewing. He offered nothing original.  He bawled his eyes out, as usual. Big Deal. He has always done that.And by the by, the secret to Beck’s crocodile tears, apparently, is Vicks Vapo Rub. Take a look a the video here, if you dare, you will see that even his eyes and nose are starting to develop a tolerance toward the strong smelling cold remedy.

I remembered growing up, on Sunday mornings, before the days of satellite and digital cable; the days when we could access but a handful of channels and Sunday tv was pretty dismal, my partents would tune into American Televangelists like Popoff and Ernest Angley for the entertainment of it. We used to laugh at how these people would miraculously ‘rise from their wheelchairs’ or their ”cancer and diabetes and blindness was mysteriously cured’. We would chuckle at how these buffoons would hit people on the forehead, as it was suppposed to be a ‘touch from God or Jesus’ and they would all drop and faint on cue. Couldn’t Glenn Beck at least have done that? Would have made it more entertaining.

The point I’m trying to make here is that while there will always be an audience for evangelism and the preaching to bring America back to “fundamentalist values”, I think Beck may well have shrunk his own audience.

This brings me to my next point. After watching this non-event; Sa-wah playing the mom of a vet which was nothing more than her parading her kids into the spotlight, as she usually does, and Beck turning into Reverend Beck and sucking badly at it, the seemingly much lower than projected turnouts, I have to wonder if the American tea-bagger hit parade is becoming a passing fad?

There will always be that fringe Christian Evangelical far right element who will always attempt to push their agenda on everyone else and in American politics. There will always be tea-baggers whining that same refrain of “less taxes-smaller government”, grossly misusing words like ‘socialism’. They’re never going to go away completely and yes, they will more than likely make a splashy come back as they did when President Obama was about to introduce health care reform, but for now, I think they’re just a tired, pathetic movement.  As this Daily Kos blogger, who was at the ‘restoring dishonor’ festivities  put it:

In giving credit where it is due, they were mostly well-behaved and teh crazy was at a minimum.  They may like to speak of “revolution” and “replenishing the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants and patriots,” from the safety and comfort of their dial-up internet, but I don’t see that happening.

I would say that would sum it up best. I think the numbers have dwindled. Perhaps because they are tired of being shown to look like idiots when they can’t answer even the simplest of questions when asked by reporters as we’ve seen on YouTube at various Tea-bagger events in the past.  Maybe  they’ve (with the exception of those usual wingnuts where hope springs eternal and will die trying; those must be kept an eye on; very dangerous people)  even discovered that they can never move back to ‘restoration’ or ‘fundamentalism’ or ‘Christian reconstructionism’.

This time last year, Sa-wah and the newly self-proclaimed Reverend Beck along with bloated bleached buffoons like Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Bachman, were all brainwashing an already paranoid, uneducated American population with the impending end of the world if President Obama passed health care reform.  That was the main catalyst (certainly one of the tops) for the surgence of the tea-bagger hit parade.   Now, Obamacare, such as it is, has passed and I think most, no matter how against health care reform they may have been and still may be, they have seen that the sky hasn’t fallen down.

Sure, many Rethuglicans are planning to repeal the reform following the 2010 elections, but first, this motley assortment of misfits the tea-baggers have voted through various primaries have to get elected.   With the exception of the bible belt and states like perhaps Kentucky, I can’t see too many of them getting elected.  If anything, the tea-baggers are victims of their own success…or failures, depending which way you look at it.

I expect that mainstream Americans rude awakening is already happening, as they begin to see exactly what the shrieking of “smaller government and less taxes” brings them–paved, unlit streets in their cities and towns, as well as a rapidly deteriorating public education system.

I suspect that many Americans, after extended periods of unemployment and no prospects of future employment despite all efforts to find work, are now seeing that that whole “Anybody can achieve the ‘American Dream’ of prosperity if they simply worked hard and didn’t rely on their government” is nothing more than bull-shit propoganda.

Again,  while Beck transforms from potent pundit to roarin’ reverend representing the evangelical Christian far right sub-culture, while worrisome and never to be underestimated; I would also take this as a sign that  the weepy Glenn Beck may well be on his way to becoming a has been, as mentioned above, the Vicks Vapo rub ain’t even working anymore. I noticed that in Sa-wah as well during what little of her speech I heard; don’t know about you, but I got the feeling that she was straining to stay relevent. She talks about being the parent of an Iraq war vet. Big deal, so are thousands of people in America today. Many of whom have lost their children in these senseless wars, yet we don’t hear most of them shrieking her stupidities. They’re too busy trying to somehow pick up the pieces of their lives.  She offered nothing new. Not even any fun stuff like cheat notes smeared all over that white suit jacket!

The blogger from Daily Kos concludes this:

Put simply, this is a crowd of mostly older, white-folks-in-lawn-chairs™ who fear change, even if for the benefit of themselves, their families, and the country at large.  They are the heels in the sand of progress and like it or not, we progressives will drag them forward, kicking and screaming, to a better day, as we have always done.

I wish them all the luck in the world with this endeavor.   Lord knows they’ll need it.

Go read Apost8′s diary at Daily Kos, many fun pics and a poll over there.

Sidenote: Good to see that there was another group led by Reverend Al Sharpton, who not only continued to honor Martin Luther King’s memory and reminded the next generation of what he did and how they must continue his fight for civil rights and equality for all, but also   didn’t  allow Beck’s and Sa-wah’s  desecration  and perversion of  Dr. Martin Luther King’s memory. Turns out, both events simultaneously happened with little incident, other than the usual taunting between the two groups. Little skirmishes like:

“One woman from the Beck rally shouted to the Sharpton marchers, “Go to church. Restore America with peace.” Some civil rights marchers chanted “don’t drink the tea” to people leaving Beck’s rally.

Sharpton basically appealed to his group to take the high road; to not take their bate.

“The folks who used to criticize us for marching are trying to have a march themselves,” he said. He urged his group to be peaceful and not confrontational. “If people start heckling, smile at them,” Sharpton said.

After reading the above quote as well as the rest of that passage in the Huffington Post story, I got the feeling that Sharpton as well as the other civil rights’ marchers,  may almost (“almost” being the key word here) feel sorry for Beck and the tea-baggers.  I could be wrong, but that’s my impression, thus further giving me the idea that the tea-bagger hit parade in the US may well have hit its’ peak and is dwindling, that is, until their next crisis, whatever that may be.

Now for something entertaining. No, no painful videos of either Glenn Beck or Sa-wah Palin. How about a little segment of Psycho Talk with Ed Schultz , demonstrating how both Sa-wah and Beck have a combined IQ in the single digits.

Dear, dear, sweet Susie ALLCAPS! Long time, no see or hear! Perhaps because you’ve become just too boring for me. You’ve ceased to be entertaining. I believed it was because some health care professional took pity on ya and finally found the right psychotropic cocktail for you.   But, now, it looks like you’re off your meds again.

Yes, now Suzie’s pissed as fuck and she ain’t takin’ it anymore! No sirreee, Bob!  In addition to being an incurable fetus fetishist (we must remember, in the wonderful world according to Susie, there is no such thing as rape; everybody has fun when having  sex and we must also remember, that in her feverish brainstorming,  that it is better for children to suffer than for a woman to have an abortion), she is also extremely homophobic. Well, Ottawa is about to celebrate their LBGTA pride on August 29 and people at St. Joseph’s Parish in Ottawa are supporting the Capital Pride march on August 29. Here’s the info in case anyone in the Ottawa area wishes to march with them.

The Gay Catholics, Christians and Allies at the University of Ottawa is looking for supporters willing to march with the club in the Capital Pride this year (August 29). The club: i) builds an inclusive community, ii) spreads the message: God’s love is in all people regardless of their sexual orientation, iii) wants gay persons to be welcomed by the official Christian churches.

Please join us at the Pride and help make this message heard: all people (gay and straight) have the same gift of love to share! E-mail: clgbt@uottawa.ca

Suzie has decided to play Catholic gay police (what else could I call it?) and decided to rat them all out to the archbishop and is encouraging others to do the same.   She really must have too much time on her hands. I mean, isn’t it sufficient to simply stay away from the parade when it is being held? Apparently not. well, Suzie. Just what do you think that will accomplish? The Capital Pride parade will still go on with or without your input.  It will still go on with or without Archbishop Prendergast’s approval.  What will his excellency do to those Catholic gays? Ex-communicate them? Really rich from a group that covers up for priests who commit pedophilia, to which (according to your previous blog posts) you support?

deBeauxOs also informs us that dear sweet Suzie has been naughty as of late. Suzie, you been stalking the good Father Raymond Gravel? Does Suzie harbor unrequited feelings of lust for the good padre?  Seriously, though, I had the pleasure of meeting him some years ago. His openness and compassion were the only reasons I stayed with the church as long as I had until your master, Pope Ratzy and the Ayatollah Ouellet started turning the church into a more fascist regime. Thanks to your master, a good man was removed from Quebec politics as well.

Suzie, I know I should feel sorry for you. But you’re just so damned malvolent, that I can’t bring myself to do it. You are a terrible example of how Christianity should be, you freakish fetus fetishist homophobe psycho.  Your latest crusades of stalking the good Fr Gravel and ratting this Catholic Gay organization are certainly evidence of that.  Suzie, do all of mankind a favor and get back on your meds! Just because your life sucks doesn’t mean you have to inflict it on others. In this instance, misery doesn’t have to love company.  Just stay away from the parade if you don’t like it.  Another question you should answer, if gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and transgendered persons are such deviants, how come God made them that way? (I’m assuming Suzie is creationist, naturally).

Balbulican takes Suzie’s advice and writes a thoughtful letter to Archbishop Prendergast.  Here it is! Scroll down,  I can’t seem to link to a particular comment with the Echo application.

Your Excellency:

I note that the website operated by the Young Adult Faith Community of St. Joseph’s Parish is inviting parishioners to march with the Gay Catholics, Christians and Allies during the Capital Pride Parade this year.

I was baptized and raised in the Catholic Church. I left the Church many years ago. I’ve known many wonderful priests and Catholics (including members of my family): but I have also met too many who viewed their faith as a license to revile those whose sexual orientation they did not share. I am a married heterosexual (and a proud recent grandfather!): but I have never been able to persuade myself that a loving God and Redeemer takes the kind of obsessive interest in others’ sexuality displayed by some of His followers.

Had there been more Catholics who show the faith in God’s inclusive love demonstrated by the  Young Adult Faith Community of St. Joseph’s Parish, I and others might still be with the Church today.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours truly,

I would write to the archbishop, myself, but I’m too pissed right now and I think every other word would be of profanity. I haven’t stopped cursing since the Vatican hit an all time low by making  the ordination of women priests as grave a sin as pedophilia.  But,  I encourage others to follow Balbulican’s lead if they so desire.

Ah yes, if anyone thought Suzie was nutty before, check out the make over she gave her twitter page. Her profile pic is of, of course, a photoshopped fetus. Sick! Sick! Sick!

As for Fr Gravel, I hope he sticks around for a long time. One thing the church needs are more outspoken priests (and nuns for that matter) like him.

Good.

Now only if he did that when health care reform was being hammered out and then perhaps every American would  have had a shot at decent health care. But I digress… I only hope that this is the beginning and that Obama stops attempting to play nice with the rethuglicans and trying to please the tea-bagger hit parade, the Fox News crowd and the Rush Limbaugh machine.

Here’s some of what President Obama had to say on the subject:

Recently, attention has been focused on the construction of mosques in certain communities – particularly in New York. Now, we must all recognize and respect the sensitivities surrounding the development of lower Manhattan. The 9/11 attacks were a deeply traumatic event for our country. The pain and suffering experienced by those who lost loved ones is unimaginable. So I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground.

But let me be clear: as a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are. The writ of our Founders must endure.

Why not build a Muslim Center? It’s been nearly a decade since 9/11 and it seems that no one has been really serious about building anything on Ground Zero ever since.  From what I understand, there is still a gaping hole from where the explosions happened. It would seem to me that whether one left a gaping hole or built anything on the site, there will always be painful memories associated with the area.

What many fail to see is that many Muslims were victims of those attacks as well. Perhaps they would like to remember them as well as the other victims.

Perhaps building this center could be a way of trying to bridge the differences; to show that most Muslims denounce what a bunch of extremist thugs did.

And let’s face it, every religion has blood on its’ hands. Not one denomination can come out honestly to say that their clerics and followers have practiced as they should. Every denomination has extremist socio-paths, yet we only seem to not only concentrate on the Muslim ones but we tag the entire religion to them.  We seem to ignore other extremist socio-paths when they break the law. Remember that pulagamist sect in British Columbia not that long ago? Men in their 50s, 60s and 70s marrying many women and young girls; girls as young as 12; those same girls getting raped by these men, yet we as a society ignore them and ignore those poor girls. This brings me to my next point, many claim we’re in Afghanistan to protect the young Afghan girls from Taliban attrocities but we ignore the young girls on our own soil trapped on those compounds; why is that? Many are still pleading to society to forgive the priests who abused children and shame on those of us who want them brought to justice. I’m not going to compare which crimes are more serious; only comparing and contrasting our attitudes when Muslim extremists commit attrocities in the name of their religion vs when socio-paths of other denominations commit attrocities in the name of their religion. Again, I go off topic, but I simply wanted to make a point about how bigotted and paranoid we’ve become, to the point where ignore our own religious shortcomings; to point out our own hypocrisy.

Luca Manfredi, who is actually one of the more sane blogging tories provides some interesting arguments. While he believes it’s a gamble and has some reservations, overall, he believes the project should go ahead for the following reasons:

Firstly, its location would be a poignant reminder to its attendees about what happened close by. With a good and scholarly imam it could indeed turn into a centre preaching tolerance and peace. I wouldn’t set the odds too high on that one though.

Secondly, and no less importantly, the interest surrounding it could be a stimulus for both religions to study each other without resorting to rhetoric. Right now the dialectic resembles an exchange between Mullah Omar and Fred Phelps. Understanding and tolerance can come solely through a deep mutual study, in order to see  each other’s moral and philosophical bedrock. Islam is not radical by nature, but it does lend itself to misinterpretation. If the Cordoba centre helps correct the mistakes of many, it won’t be a waste of space and money.

Thirdly, it might at last serve as a stepping stone for many budding American Islamic scholars and imams. What should be encouraged (and maybe given a little money by Bloomberg the appeaser) is a closer tie to Egypt’s Al Azhar University rather than wahhabi Saudi madrassas. I am sure there are tons of American muslim youngsters who would love to study their religion and preach it. Their dreams are hijacked by the Saudis, who groom them into radicalism. Maybe, just maybe, Cordoba could be persuaded to reverse this trend and begin breeding a generation of well-versed American imams. That would go a long way to nipping the mosque radicalisation in the bud.

Sometimes I have to wonder about folks like Tarek Fatah and Raheel Raza. They came out against the center recently. Here is their take in the Calgary Herald. I read their arguments and to me, it sounded like they were catering to paranoia.  I understand that in their way, they want to be the voices for moderate Islam; to speak up for the silent majority, but often I find they take the wrong approach. I find that they’re simply pandering to western bigotry and ignorance rather than educating and reaching out to them, thus further feeding the sociopaths who are hijacking their own faith and culture. Such suggestions like this one sound alarm bells:

If Rauf is serious about building bridges, then he could have dedicated space in this so-called community centre to a church and synagogue…

How absurd! Rauf is Muslim; as Manfredi points out, what would he know about building a synagogue or a church for that matter? About as much as a Rabbi or a minister/priest building a mosque.

I can’t help but wonder if Fatah and Raza are suggesting that the only way to build bridges is to submit to Judaio-Christian society? Come to think of it; why haven’t any Jewish or Christian organizations thought about building a church or synagogue in that area in the last nine years? While we’re at it; why hasn’t Wall Street? Or any other company or NGO?   Why did no one think of building a commemorative plaque, another suggestion of Fatah and Raza? Is everyone simply content to leave a gaping hole of where it all happened?  Someone thinks to build something and many are now presuming to tell him what to build? To build what they themselves didn’t think of building in the last nine years?

Somebody is now expressing an interest in building and it is to be an Islamic center. Mayor Bloomberg has come out in favor of this project. And now, so has President Obama.  Sure, it is hitting him in the polls, but with the gang of tea-bagger misfits in the Rethuglicans these days, he may well survive this. Hell, if he can keep his spine throughout the rest of his mandate, perhaps he could even beat Sa-wah in 2012.  It’s good to see Mayor Bloomberg standing behind the president:

“clarion defense of the freedom of religion.”

Hopefully, many more, perhaps some fellow Democrats come forth to stand with their leader on this issue.

As for the GOP and the tea-baggers all crying out “it’s a slap in the face against the 9/11 victims”; I didn’t see their outrage when lil’ Georgie & Dickie cut 77% of health care funding  and cancelled a health monitoring program to these very same victims and former workers who can no longer work.  Their newfound solidarity for these victims now to cover their own paranoia and bigotry is really hollow.

Yeah, many, including, no doubt, Fatah and Raza, probably believe that the building of this Islamic center is nothing more than a deliberate provocation; a taunt to the Americans. I highly doubt that and we should give them the benefit of the doubt. If that proves to be the case somewhere down the road, then, shouldn’t it be incumbent upon us to not fall into that trap and rise above that? Wouldn’t that be a new attitude to show to the world?

Luca Manfredi is right though; it is a gamble, but not only for the reasons he mentioned in his post.   Read some of the comments at his post if you dare; much hatred and such awful creative evil ideas from some of them. Yes, for a blogging tory, that took guts for him to write so hats to him. I commend anyone publicly taking a stand in favor of the project; Dan Delmar had nothing but screeching callers who needed rubber rooms and surprisingly, redneck Ryan came out in favor too in spite of insane callers. I can only imagine those involved with the project must be going through. I wonder how many death threats Mayor Bloomberg is getting these days? Threats with President Obama seem to be a regular happening. For those reasons,  I, too, have some reservations about the project. I’m concerned about the safety of the contractors and all the workers building this project as well as potential sabotage. If it did get built and once the new Islamic center was built, I would be concerned about the safety of its’ members trying to attend. That said,  I also believe in nothing ventured; nothing gained. I say go ahead with the project but proceed with caution.

Just came back from Montreal Simon’s post,  Stephen Harper and Daddy Knows Best in response to Lawrence Martin’s latest effort regarding sweater vest Stevie and his backward puritanical wet dreams of how Canada should look in his view.   I agree with Simon, this really isn’t one of Martin’s best efforts, in fact it’s one of his worst I’ve ever read. For one, I have to ask Martin if he’s only figuring this out now?  The evidence has been around for some time now. If Steve, himself ain’t pushing it, then certainly his MPs or cheerleaders have. Cheerleaders like Kory Klan’s pride & Joy, Lorrie Goldstein check Jymn’s comment at the bottom of this post).  I’m surprised Martin hadn’t noticed the pattern with Steve on so many issues.

Tough on crime comes to mind.  Harpercon flunkies attempt to push their big-assed super prisons while crime stats go down. I mean, before ol’ Stock nearly gave himself a nosebleed, coming up with the brainstorm about all that ‘unreported’ crime. Columnists like Goldstein, pundits and MPs were saying that our crime rates were still much higher than those prior to the 60s.

Then there is the appointment of David Johnston, someone who stepped right out of  ”The Man In The Grey Flannel Suit”, a novel and movie starring Gregory Peck.

Not to mention,  blogging Suppositories like FrmGrl (I mean, how much more backward can you get with a title like Chasing Apple Pie?), Hunter, or from those too insane to be a Blogging SupposiTory like Wendy “Girl on the Wrong” Sullivan all longing for days when women and other visible minorities ‘knew their place’ and no one dared to speak against their government.

Yes, many want things the way they were during the era of “Leave it To Beaver” or “Petticoat Junction”. Why is Lawrence Martin only catching on to this now?  More importantly, why would Martin say that the 50s were a ‘better era‘? One almost gets the feeling after reading that column that Martin feels nostalgic longing for the “good ol’ days”; that Steve could easily sell it if he weren’t executing such bullying tactics.

Martin also points out a few inaccuracies: Steve would be the most intrusive government (Bill C-42, airport underwear scans or G20 police State Toronto anyone?) and yes, Stevie spiteful will raise taxes, particularly on the middle/working class; not his rich friends.  At the end of the day, somebody has to pay for his communications, F-35s, G20 costs, pork barrelling, and undoing everything previous governments and generations had built.

Mr. Harper’s priorities bring back images of a 1950s Canada. There’s a big focus on family values, pride in the armed forces, the monarchy, the Arctic, law and order, hockey, unintrusive government, low taxes. The vision is the true north strong and free and – with respect to its supreme ruler – on bended knee.

Martin did, however, confirm something most Canadians already knew though, through a Harpercon flunkie.

I was talking to one of his former close advisers recently and, reflecting the Prime Minister’s view, he launched into a tirade about how good Canada used to be until Pierre Trudeau came along with all that “hippie bullshit.” He spoke of how Mr. Harper was in fact a very old-fashioned type and how he had immense pride in the country. This is hard to square with some of his derisive remarks about the place, but many of those did come while Canada was under Liberal rule.

The above statement also confirms why Steve wanted to be Prime Minister in the first place; to undo all that “damage”  Trudeau, Tommy Douglas (introduction of medicare) and others did to move Canada forward. Things like legalizing homosexuality and the beginnings of legalized abortion. Social programs like universal health care. All those terrible things that tend to get Stevie spiteful’s intestinal tract tied like a pretzel.  We also read and hear of those bitching about how Trudeau spent money on those social programs; just ruined the country; just ruined it, I tell you! Ah, the hypocrisy! They benefit from programs like medicare and other progressive measures Trudeau and other subsequent policians put into place.  As I’ve pointed out on several occasions, unleash Steve with a majority and he will undo all and those Harpercon cheerleaders will be the first to whine and bitch when they’re no longer there for them to access when they need them.

And guess who these con idiots blame this dastardly progress and advance on?  Yes, boys and girls, Quebec; la belle province.  That dastardly Quiet Revolution under the evul Jean Lesage.  Quebec, in Steve’s view, it would seem, started that trend of  turning Canada into the “European welfare state of the worst kind…” Quebec is stopping Steve from bringing Canada back to Maurice Duplessis’s Periode Noirceur. Perhaps Steve is channelling Duplessis these days. Love how Quebec becomes a convenient scapegoat.

What’s happened this past decade is that Quebec has lost its long-time leverage. No one cares much about its priorities now that the separatist blackmail threat, the sword of Damocles, has been removed.

A telling statement, really.  It further confirms that Steve doesn’t care as much to keep Quebec within Canada as much as his predecessors did. I daresay, after reading many comment boards and the blogging SupposiTories, that quite possibly, Steve would boot Quebec out of Canada if given his majority so he can continue pushing  his “Back To The Future” agenda. Yikes!

I agree with Simon, Stevie spiteful is more like the Godfather than “Father Knows Best” or Ward Cleever.  We must get Steve out of office, or at the very least, shrink his minority significantly before we end up in 1950s hell. No, wait! Never mind that; think Depression Era 30s hell or better still, back in the days of dinosaurs, just the way ol’ Stock likes it.  Stevie Spiteful ain’t no right on Daddy-O.

I always knew the U.S. were known for two things; their litigiousness and their ever growing wingnuttiness. Particularly religious wingnuttiness.  Just when you think the law suit or the religious belief doesn’t get more ridiculous, more stories proving us wrong come up.

Here is the doozy: a bus driver in Texas is suing for discrimination based on his religious beliefs. Why? Get this one, boys n’ girls; because of his religious beliefs. No, I’m not kidding.  He was fired for refusing to take women to Planned Parenthood Centers.

Edwin Graning, who was hired as a driver on April 1, 2009, was “concerned that he might be transporting a client to undergo an abortion” when he was assigned to take two women to Planned Parenthood, according to his lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Austin.

Graning is seeking reinstatement, back pay and undisclosed damages for pain, suffering and emotion distress. He is represented by lawyers from the American Center for Law & Justice, founded by evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson.

Joanna Salinas, an Austin lawyer who represents the Capital Area Rural Transportation System, said, “CARTS denies that it discriminated against Mr. Graning because of his religion, and we are looking forward to responding to the lawsuit in court.”

The system, operated under an agreement among participating counties, offers bus service on fixed routes and through requested pickup for residents in the nonurban areas of Travis and Williamson counties and in all of Bastrop, Burnet, Blanco, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays and Lee counties.

After he was dispatched to take the women to Planned Parenthood in January, Graning called his supervisor “and told her that, in good conscience, he could not take someone to have an abortion,” his lawsuit said. The women’s names, their location and the clinic location were not included in the lawsuit. Planned Parenthood also provides health care services unrelated to abortion.

Graning, a Kyle resident, is “an ordained Christian minister who is opposed to abortion,” the lawsuit said.

His supervisor, who is not named, responded by saying, “Then you are resigning,” the suit said.

Graning denied he was resigning and was later told to drive his bus back to the yard and then was fired, the lawsuit said.

Graning’s suit claims violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Read the rest here.

Yes,  the good Reverend thinks he deserves the keys to the courthouse in addition to a king’s ransome from his former employer from ‘preventing’ women from having abortions. And of course he does! What were his employers thinking? He’s a super hero! He saved the day! Hurrah! Hell! Give him the keys to the city! Never mind all the pap smears, counselling and other female health exams and treatments he may have prevented, but hell, it was all worth it! By Golly Gee! He saved the fetuses!!

Me thinks this wacked out bus driver has prohibited his own employment opportunities by not taking paying customers to where they want and have paid to go just because he doesn’t approve of what the customer may or may not be doing at said destination; in this case, possible abortions at a Planned Parenthood Center. 

In our minds, the Reverend Graning’s law suit should be a no brainer.  The case would and should be thrown out and he should be laughed out of court in much the same way as Orly Taitz, right? Well, we can hope that would happen.  But, let’s be realistic, Texas is the bible belt of the U.S. and folks tend to get more wingnutty as time goes by, and the very fact that a judge seemed to have agreed to keep the case on the docket is, well, disturbing to say the least. Don’t be surprised if  Reverend Bus driver does recover back pay, gets his job back and of course, gets the special privilege of either by passing the Planned Parenthood center entirely or having the route changed to the point he would never even have to pass within view of the building.

This oughta make Suzy ALLCAPSLOCK all warm and tingly inside. A hero after her own heart, right up there after Pope Ratzy, Cardinal Mar Ouellet, Dean Del Mastro and Sharon Angle.

H/T Blag Hag

There really aren’t that many words to say about this doozy.

Pope Ratzy has come out and said that pedophilia is a sin. No shit, Shirlock!!  But here’s the kicker; in the world according to ol’ Ratzy, so is ordaining women, apparently, it’s right up there too;

In the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, both are equally “grave delicts,” according to revisions in internal Vatican laws published Thursday.

Women who attempt to preside over any ceremony or attempt to be ordained will be ex-communicated. Wow! I wonder if the pope or any of his flunkies have attempted to tell any female Protestant ministers this? Do they even have the balls?

“Lumping us with the men who are the perpetrators of these crimes is absolutely mean-spirited and completely out of touch with reality,” said Sudbury’s Marie Bouclin. From 1959 to 1966, Bouclin was a nun in Ottawa. After leaving her order, she continued to work for the Catholic Church until the early 1990s, eventually becoming the personal secretary to a bishop.

But Bouclin became overwhelmed with the ways she believed her church was unfair to women. After she spoke up about it one too many times, she was let go from her position.

Now, she considers herself a Catholic priest.

What I don’t get is why doesn’t Bouclin simply convert and become a Protestant minister? At least her church would not only respect her, but she would be recognized as full fledged clergy as much as her male counterparts.

And another thing, I don’t recall any of those pedophile priests being ex-communicated.

Now, here comes the manditory apologist where he starts spinning things, saying that the Vatican is not equating pedophilia with Ordaining women.

“It does a disservice to everyone when you draw these parallels quickly without reflection,” said MacCarthy. “It does a disservice to the victims of abuse and to the women who are making great contributions to the church.”

First off, Mr Apologist, your church has already done more than a disservice to the victims of abuse at the hands of your priests.

Next, and certainly not least, how can women make any significant contributions to the Catholic Church if  his popeness has made it a sin for them to do so?

You put both of these items in that same rule book.  More on their rules here.

Yanno, you’re not going to win new parishioners with these draconian, mean spirited laws.  I daresay you’ll probably lose more women.

Again, I hope that many Catholic women consider converting to Protestantism (if they choose to be clergy that is) or whatever else suits them.

It sure did. 

We just had ourselves a little mid-afternoon adventure at work. Health & Safety let us know a few minutes ago we could go back into the building. I work in Downtown Montreal.

According to the news so far it was a small earthquake & it was felt from the south Shore of Montreal to the Laurentians.

I just found out it was as far as Ottawa according to Trashee.

What’s even funnier is that I noticed my computer screens and my tea jerking about for almost a minute, before Health & Safety gave me the order to announce the evacuation of our building.

I wonder if the evangelical element of the Harpercons and the Harpercon cheerleaders within the vicinity of Montreal – Ottawa went all ga ga giddy with the euphoric rush believing the end times were upon us??   I bet they’re really disappointed now.

Fuck  off!

Things sooooo boring in Alberta that all you can come up with is Quebec bashing?

I’m going to tell you what I told your idiotic friend Tasha Kheirriddin: stay away from things you don’t understand. Remember High school English 101? Only write what you know!

You conveniently left out the part that Loyola is government subsidized. They could give back all the taxpayers’ dollars paid into their school and refuse to accept any more, or teach the secular class. As I’ve mentioned, a classroom is not a place for impressionable young minds to be taught that abortion and gay marriage are plain evul and if anyone refuses to believe that will go to hell.

And once more with feeling, it is irresponsible to teach kids that certain religions and cultures are superior to others.

What’s wrong with learning basic ethics like helping your fellow man, respecting your neighbour, humility….ah yes! You’re an Albertan, those are soshalist for you!

Pauline Marois was bang on when she said that religion should be kept at home and the churches.

As for the crucifix, it was voted upon; it was not arbitrarily decided. Unlike Steve’s Canada, the National Assembly actually does as best as it could to put some semblence of democracy.

No wonder Duceppe is reviving the sovereignty movement; to be called Canadian with the likes of an ignorant cow like you is downright embarrassing.

And you don’t love Canada neither; you love GW Bush’s Americana and would help Steve turn Canada into just that .

As for those gentlemen in gray ponytails you denigrate in your article; you jealous that you can’t get one to sleep with you?

Remove the quarter lodged up your ass then.

OH, and do you cream in your panties at the thought of PM STeve? Oh oh oh! I bet you do!

Now stop writing you useless hack and do…wait! Do you have any skill?

Go find a Klu Klux Klan  bake sale to cover…that’s about your speed.

Now Get fucked, you desperate old hag…

Now crawl back to your trailor park you piece of white trash. I hear there’s a certain frat boy in your province looking for Mrs. Robinson

And I’m being charitable today!