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Steven Harper really enjoys floating trial balloons through his back benches. Another preemptive volley from the western conservative black hole of politics has made it the media. The poll, of course, has been skewed by the screwball forced birth advocating religious right in Canada so ignore the results. However, one comment on the poll caught my attention and thus is reproduced here.
The Supreme Court of Canada ruling on the Morgentaler appeal in 1988 confirmed as Chief Justice Brian Dickson wrote:
“Forcing a woman, by threat of criminal sanction, to carry a fetus to term unless she meets certain criteria unrelated to her own priorities and aspirations, is a profound interference with a woman’s body and thus a violation of her security of the person.”
This confirmed a woman’s Charter right to choose.
It has served us well over the last 25 years and the notion of creating a new law is only to serve the interests of those who will *never* accept a woman’s right over her own body.
My thoughts exactly. You can frack-off forever my forced birth advocating friends, women are treated as people here in Canada, get used to it.
Piano makes kitty sad.
Hey there Canada.
Are you enjoying the vibrant parliamentary debates going on over the contentious issues facing our country? No? Me either.
The current government is running legislation through the House Fire-Hose of Commons faster than the particles being smashed at the LHC. Again, let me extend my heartfelt thanks to southern Ontario voters who just couldn’t vote for the NDP or the Liberals and held their nose and voted for the Conservatives. Good show, honest. I didn’t want our government to have to deal with those troublesome encumbrances like parliamentary debate or oversight or heck, even sombre second though. That whole compromise “thing” is completely out of date in the 21st century.
I honestly do not know which is worse; the partisan gridlock in the US or the inscrutable rule by Omnibus bill here.
You would think that here in Canada we would have at least few more moments of sanity. Apparently not.
“A trip for students from two Ottawa Catholic high schools to observe the U.S. presidential election has been cancelled because of an article on an anti-abortion website, leaving students and parents confused and disappointed.”
The Fetus Fetishists along with their religiously deluded supporters are curtailing childrens’ education because their nose slipped a notch out of joint.
“Scott Searle, a teacher at St. Peter, organized the trip to give them a first-hand glimpse of the American presidential election campaign and voting process as the campaign heads into its final days.
They would have participated in incumbent President Barack Obama’s ‘get out the vote’ program by reminding pre-determined Obama supporters to vote. The students would have come home Wednesday after the results were in.”
Wow, participating in the US political process, it would have been a engaging learning experience. But we certainly can’t have that, education opens minds – precisely what the church and fetus-worshippers detest the most.
“It [an article from LifeSiteNews.com] quotes an anonymous mother who said she’s incensed about the trip’s support for Obama, who is pro-choice. It also points out that Searle’s online LinkedIn profile lists him as an Obama volunteer.”
Yep, apparently Obama is still the anti-christ and letting students even in directly participate in anything that involves him pretty much will stop the Earth from turning [spiralling into the sun is next if Obama wins].
“Clatney said he’s upset about the trip being taken out of context.
“I’m very disappointed that the community was unable to understand that the trip was about observing the American political system and not [being] there on behalf of Obama or supporting him,” Clatney said.
“I was also disappointed that our school and some of our staff members were portrayed as anti-Christian, anti-life, anti-family, and that it was blown way out of proportion and exaggerated.”
Well if you associate with the religious regressive sorts, is this sort of action really surprising? I mean how shocking is it that religion is holding back education opportunities? Religion is the poisonous crimson ichor that turns people away from reason, away from tolerance and away from modern civilized society. Religion worked great when we were stupid, ignorant and afraid of just about everything in the world; now, no so much.
Hey I need some help eroding the church/state separation. Lets ask the experts!
I’m not really sure what is so shit-hot about the attitudes and conventions of the Dark Ages, but Harper and his government have decided to fecklessly dive into the land of pants-on-head stupid and establish a official government bureau of “Religious Freedom”. Let’s be clear, not something useful like an office sponsoring freedom FROM religion, so sorry Rishma of Pakistan, you still get be sentenced to death for allegedly burning pages from a magic book. Because, obviously we need MORE religion in the world because rational thought is too fucking hard to deal with.
“The federal government’s long-awaited Office of Religious Freedom will be unveiled soon, officials say, after months of delays caused by difficulty in finding the right person to head the office.
The new body, which will be housed within the Department of Foreign Affairs, was expected to be up and running earlier this year.
But a senior government official told CBC News that Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has had a hard time finding someone to fill the role of ambassador to head up the office. Two people who were approached ultimately turned the post down for logistical and personal reasons.?
Reasons why? Because being head of the Canadian christian god brigade overseas is not appealing. I’m really flabbergasted at my government right now. I’m imaging that in some meeting some wonk pops this ass-blister of a suggestion and throws it out there –
“Hey, you know that separation of church and state thing, its dumb, lets set up an office and get the government officially involved in delusional religious shit”. Ohh the meetings goes quiet. “But where are we going to get the money?” says Economic Wonk, our resident member of brain trust of turdistan says, “oh, well we closed a bunch of science and research down there is plenty of money saved from that…”.
And then there was cabinet/Harper approval. Yes, lets close down scientific research on one hand and fund the promotion of stale religious brain-flatulence from the bronze age. Brilliant! How can we lose? It is astonishing that people voted for people that actually endorse this sort of thinking.
“Some supporters of the idea have grown frustrated with the long wait. The $5-million office was first announced during the May 2011 election campaign as a centrepiece of the government’s foreign policy.”
A vesitgal bone thrown at the dumb-as-dirt religious value voters that worked. Apparently jebus said lower corporate tax rates so we can screw the rest of society over. To my idjit right of centre commentators, did you notice that you only get lip-service paid to your nuttily-regressive ‘social conservative” goals all the while the economic conservatives who hold the real power happily continue to gut the bastions of the social democratic state? You think getting screwed over would become tiresome after the nth time, apparently you thought in 2011, *this* time it would be different.
Bhatti argues the new ambassador must be objective.
“The person shouldn’t be one-sided,” he said. “He doesn’t focus on the one religion, or one persecution. He will treat every religion equally and give his recommendation to the foreign office and government regarding truth and reality.”
I don’t even know what this means. But I think I would be a good candidate for the job. I all religions the same, with contempt, would this make me a good candidate for the job? Probably not since the ability to think clearly is not selected for when trying to get a job within a religion.
“As CBC NEWS reported last year, internal Foreign Affairs documents showed nearly all of the panellists who participated in a closed-door consultation with Foreign Affairs last fall in Ottawa were drawn from Western religions, primarily Christianity. Few Muslims were in attendance and there were no Muslim panellists.
Arvind Sharma, a Canadian scholar of religion, has been carefully monitoring the government’s plans, and says the idea presents a great opportunity for Canada on the world stage.
But the McGill University professor warns that’s only if Canada avoids promoting proselytization.”
Yep, Canadian Christians for Christ, sponsored by the secular government of Canada? *sigh* Canada is a secular democracy and really needs to axe this crumby idea.
Giving government support to mythology is stupid and needs to stop before even more people get that idea that religion is an still acceptable choice in the 21st century.
Maybe we should update our preferred torture methods, hanging perhaps?
Our society is progressing ever so slowly (and will continue to do so if we don’t let the corporations win, restore the 25% tax rate please). I often look to the politics and citizenry of Quebec for cues on progressive society and the model we should be working toward. Progress does come in fits and starts, but the latest PQ notion of a Secular Charter is a retrograde notion at its very best.
The Parti Québécois wants to introduce a secular charter and ban all civil servants from wearing or exposing overt religious symbols.
This isn’t the first time the Parti Québécois has mentioned the introduction of a secular charter aimed at making sure public and parapublic institutions are free of religious bias and symbols.
This part is good. Government needs to be free of the stench of religion and all of the sectarian nonsense that comes with it. The wider the wall between church and state, the better off society will be. Spot the problem with this next bit from Pauline Marois:
“We will fight for what we need because we think this is essential for the public’s well-being by taking its values and writing them in a charter,” Marois said.Under such a charter, civil servants would not be allowed to wear conspicuous religious symbols.
The crucifix at Quebec’s national assembly, however, would remain untouched.
Marois also talked about the fact that many of Quebec’s institutions used to be based on religion.It’s part of our heritage, but taking a step to ensure the state’s secularity is not to deny what we are, but that we are at a new moment in our lives and believe the state’s neutrality and the fundamental values, equality between men and women must guide us toward a life together in Quebec,” Marois said.
*broken record sound* What phoque is going on with that?
We’ll keep our christian torture symbol prominently displayed in the national assembly, but the rest the religious stuff, you know you immigrants and your pagan practices…that shite has to go!
If you are going to adopt a secular charter then all of the religious bullshite has to go, you can’t keep the ones that you like and then say no to others citing “the secular nature of society” that is just discrimination of the racist sort and therefore has no place in progressive secular society.
Fits and starts I tell thee. Come on Quebec, get it right and turf all the religious ooga-booga, it will do Quebec and Canada proud.
File this story under the “sad state of our society”; when we allow are children to mimic the testosterone fuelled stupidity known as MMA and somehow think that its OK.
“A mixed martial arts competition in Moncton, N.B., is garnering controversy after it featured a cage fight between children last month.The adult–oriented event included exhibition mixed martial arts matches, made popular by the Ultimate Fighting Championship, involving children as young as eight.
It’s not like the MMA you see in the movies, or what you see on TV,” said John Williams, the Canadian representative for amateur mixed martial arts. The fights are “extremely safe,” he said, because the children have “lots of equipment on.”
Oh, so the idea of training children to bring forth enough hate to try to hurt each other is just fine and dandy because they “have lots of equipment on”. I think Mr.Williams is competing with rolled oats for cluelessness with stupid statements like this.
“Williams said the rules were approved by the Moncton boxing commission, but psychologist Charles Emmrys disapproves of the fighting, especially as entertainment for adults.
Violence is exciting. That’s why we have action movies, they pump us up. Children should not be pumping us up by beating each other up,” he said.
When parents are talking about encouraging kids to beat up other kids, well that’s called encouraging a bully to be a bully.”
No kidding. Modelling violent behaviour makes kids violent. *sigh*
You wonder where that kid came from that just beat the crap out of our special little snowflake…just ask Mr.Williams.
Let us sent out a big thanks to the Ontario Swing Voters that brought us this monstrosity known as the Harper Majority Government. The Omnibus bill is the latest poke at the mouldering corpse that is Canadian Politics.
Debate? Defence of ideas? Compromise? Not happening in our House of Commons. The light at the end of the tunnel is coming though and the French NDP contingent is gnawing at the bit waiting to lead the charge to expel the current plutocrats from power.
“The French chant “2015” started in the upper reaches of the NDP backbench and soon cascaded into a common, desk-thumping chorus just before midnight Thursday in the House of Commons.
The tone from the official Opposition was oddly celebratory, given that they’d just faced 22-plus hours of consecutive spankings by a Conservative majority government voting to protect its omnibus budget bill from hundreds of amendments.
Bill C-38, the sprawling Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act, survived the ordeal untouched and now goes to third and final reading in the Commons on Monday.
The bill — and the literally dozens of significant statutes it comprises on everything from environmental assessments to old age security, employment insurance rules, government contracting and cross-border policing — should clear the Conservative-dominated Senate by the end of next week.”
Of course Bill C-38 was going to pass, like a javelin through the heart of Canadian Democracy. But we can save hope that things will change as the NDP back bench clearly intoned in the House of Commons.
“Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said as he emerged from the chamber with his budget bill intact.
“We have our view and our view is supported by the mandate we got from the people of Canada last year, so we’re carrying out the mandate that we have — which is about jobs and growth and economic prosperity.”
The majority of Canadians did not vote for you or your mandate Mr.Flaherty, it would be good of you to remember that. You can feel the scorn from Conservative benches, actually having to show up and vote on legislation, having to deal with this nasty messy idea that people should have input into how their country is run. The nerve of Canadians who clearly do not know their place.”
“Green party leader Elizabeth May was the author of hundreds of the substantive amendments shot down Thursday and one of about a half dozen MPs who didn’t miss a single vote. She said it was far more than “theatrics or … a waste of time.”
“This was democracy,” said May, still feisty and coherent after 22 hours of voting.
“This was parliamentarians stepping up to our obligation and our duty to Canada, to parliament, to the people who sent us here from our constituencies, to behave like parliamentarians.”
“It was a sign that democracy in Canada has a spark of life,” said May. “We found the pulse.”
This was democracy indeed. The electorate will remember how the Harper Government slapped the democratic process in the face. Prepare for more jaw dropping, commonsense defying attacks on our environment, labour and the social fabric of our society though because Harper needs to get all the damage done quickly so he can begin sucking up to the Canadian public in time for the 2015 election.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
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