Wonderful story about Stephen Harper by my former Carleton journalism classmate. Well worth a read.

Brings to mind a good line I recently heard in a lousy movie: “The Lord judges you for who you are, not who you were.”

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I know you all come here for rough political stuff and all that, but tonight I saw the most amazing film with my sons.  It was one of the best movies I’ve seen in years.

The trailer doesn’t do it justice, but take my amateur film critic’s word for it: it’s wonderful.  You’ll remember it for a long time.

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The Speaker finds:

• he has jurisdiction
• that Irwin Cotler’s complaints were factual
• that what the Conservatives did was “reprehensible”
• that Cotler had a “legitimate grievance”

Yet, despite all that, there was no “prima facie” case.  Because (a) Cotler continued doing his job and (b) people have read about it in the paper, and will hereafter be “wary.”

That is unmitigated bullshit. To use a hockey analogy: was Cotler supposed to drop to the ice, and stay there until the guy who gave him a head shot was suspended from further play?  Will this kind of thuggery stop, now, because a few scolding newspaper editorials were written?  It is to laugh.

This ruling was a test of a new Speaker, and he has utterly failed it.  There was a reason why the Prime Minister’s Office favoured his candidacy.

And now we’ve seen why.  He’s their water boy.

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Seeing as how there is an awkward photo in every Toronto paper today, I bring to your attention even more awkward (and sort-of-NSFW) photos. More here. You’re welcome.

 

 

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“We will keep it at six per cent for whatever the duration of the agreement is.”

Around the four minute mark, just in case he and his Boss try and weasel out of a very clear commitment.

If they try, we’ll make them wear it, big time.

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Does the above, seen of the front pages of newspapers across Toronto this morning, make you ill?  It does me.  I think the couple – who decided to bump uglies in the full view of commuters on the Bloor-Danforth line, mid-afternoon – should be imprisoned for life.

I’m a prude.  Not only do I oppose most pornography, I also favour categorizing PDAs as a criminal offence.

I subscribe to George Bernard Shaw’s maxim:  “The position is ridiculous, and the pleasure is momentary.”

What do you think?  Vote in our super-scientific poll, below!

 

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Words to remember.  I’ve felt this way for a long time.

“Unless we are bold. Unless we seize the moment. Everything we built will start being chipped away,” the former prime minister writes in a toughly-worded fundraising letter. “The Conservatives have already ended gun control and Kyoto. Next may be a woman’s right to choose, or gay marriage. Then might come capital punishment. And one by one, the values we cherish as Canadians will be gone.”

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It’s a journalist’s job to be skeptical, and to raise differing points of view, without fear or favour.

When a broad consensus is reached on an issue — in this case, bullying — it’s right for media folks to offer up contrary points of view. Dissent is a good thing, particularly when only one point of view is dominating.

This fall, there has been an avalanche of coverage about bullying in Canada. Every paper and every broadcast, it seems, has had investigations into the nature and extent of bullying. Many of the stories have detailed the tragic tales of teenagers who, after being subjected to bullying, chose to take their own lives.

Politicians have picked up on the media’s refrain. On Parliament Hill, and at provincial legislatures, politicians of every stripe have come together to denounce bullying, or to suggest measures to counter it. Some of the politicians haven’t necessarily practiced what they preached — like those federal Conservatives who have claimed to oppose homophobic bullying, while simultaneously opposing laws that would give gays true equality — but it has been nice to see the unanimous denunciations of bullying.

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So there I was, heading along the Extension and the sun caught me full on, and it was warm on my face, and Galaxie 500 comes on with ‘Fourth of July,’ and it was as perfect a moment as you could get, one that you’ll remember forever.  Or I will, at least.

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If you don’t care about this, you’re with the terrorists.

Now that the lunatics are running the asylum, with majority control, get used to more of this:

“The government is placing a ban on face coverings such as niqabs for people swearing their oath of citizenship, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Monday.

The ban takes effect immediately.

As a result, Muslim women will have to remove their niqabs or any other face-covering garments, such as burkas, before they can recite the oath of citizenship to become Canadians. Citizenship judges will be directed to enforce the rules at ceremonies over which they preside.“

As I wrote some months ago, you should also get ready for every kook and bigot with some spare time on his hands commence litigation against the Sikh’s turban and beard, the Jew’s kippah and the Hasidic Jew’s clothing,  the Hindu’s tilak facial markings, the styles favoured by traditional Mennonites and the Amish, or perhaps even the ostentatious display of a nun’s habit.

Oh, and there’s this campaign, which started in Israel last Fall:

(Related story found here).

And here’s a Canadian angle:

“Quebec’s Orthodox Jewish community appeared for the first time on Wednesday before a National Assembly committee, taking up an unexpected cause – fighting a bill that would ban the wearing of the Muslim niqabwhen receiving government services.

The Jewish Orthodox Council for Community Relations said by placing gender rights above religious rights, the bill would create a hierarchy of individual rights and freedoms that would be challenged before the courts. The group warned the government against adopting “hard and fast rules” that could exacerbate social tensions surrounding religious minorities.“

And so on and so on.

In 2011 A.D., it amazes me that we still need to say this, but apparently we do:  Religions should have no control over what governments do – and, as in this case, governments should have no control over what religions do.  If no one is being harmed in some way, social conservative nutbars like Jason Kenney should back off.

And will the NDP say anything about this?  Not on your life.  Liberals?  We shall see.

UPDATE: From a sharp-eyed reader, this gem. We all expect Kenney to place Eve under citizen’s arrest, now.

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