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Teaching fairy tales and assorted religious mumbo-jumbo since 1996 with public funds!
Teaching religion in public schools as a serious “subject” is just wrong. Religious studies are acceptable, but this is not what this is. Would you want to subject your child to graded learning on how the tooth fairy or easter bunny makes their rounds? Some people do, and want to continue to do so on the public schools educational funds. Christianity teaches hate, it teaches ostracism it teaches xenophobia. My point is affirmed with this breaking news story about how the dear christians are being put upon because:
“However, if the policy developed . (it) means that our Logos teachers and principals would no longer be able to express freely in their classrooms that the homosexual lifestyle is not in accord with their Christian beliefs, and that they would be required to ‘affirm’ homosexual lifestyle as acceptable to traditional Christian family values, then we cannot accept this,” the two-page notice says in bold lettering.
Then my dear deluded friends, you can simply frack the hell off and take your despicable fairy tales with you. Like some of the religiously-challenged the facts of the matter have little sway when it comes to their magic book, this is from their website:
“Certainly, as followers of Jesus, we believe that every child should be free from bullying, whether it is because of his or her physical appearance or their sexual orientation, or for any other reason, and that all persons and families should be treated with respect and dignity. To that extent we support the School Trustees’ concern about bullying. (Yet, if the Trustees would insist that their already-existing policies on bullying were strictly enforced by the Superintendent and school principals, there would be no need for an additional policy at all).”
But wait, let’s see why this program is being enacted…
“There is considerable evidence that sexual-minority youth are at greater risk for harassment, persecution, bullying, suicide attempts and feeling unsafe, Colburn said. Research has also shown generic anti-bullying policies do nothing on their own to protect those kids, he said.
“It’s only when stand-alone policies specifically addressing (sexual minority) populations are in place that the school environment changes dramatically.”
Well I’m completely surprised that the LOGOS program would ignore research and fact when it comes to facing the realization that yes, your hate filled fairy tale hurts children and does not deserve the blind reverence you seemingly give it. I encourage the concerned christians to make more persecution (of the majority) noises about this grievous policy of having to affirm that the homosexual lifestyles are okay. It further highlights the bigotry, ignorance and irrelevance of christian religion in the 21st century and makes the strong case that the taint of religion has no place within the public school system.
The correlation between religion and the capacity to do monstrous deeds is again shown by the following clip which describes a few of the honour killings that have happened in Canada since the turn of century. Most certainly patriarchal cultural norms play factor, but it religion that puts the icing on the cake, the ultimate enabler for evil malicious acts.
Canada is a secular multicultural country and to maintain the level of freedom available to the citizens of this nation, the rule of law must remain firmly grounded in reason and rationality. Let it be known that practices whether they come under the aegis of religion or cultural norms will not be tolerated if they violate this countries laws and/or the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Meandering though the Canadian progressive blogosphere I was struck by the amount of gloom and general disgust with our current electoral system. This response from a commenter Thinking Man Neil on Dawg’s Blawg that I’m cut and pasting summarizes things quite nicely.
A resounding hurrah for the return to Feudalism.
“A very dark day for Canada. Stephen Harper’s antipathy for democracy is legendary: shutting down Parliament twice to avoid public accountability, being found in contempt of Parliament twice for refusing to release information to the House of Commons, covering the lies and scandals of his MP’s, staff, and advisers, giving his MP’s instructions to disrupt parliamentary committees to render them unworkable, violating campaign laws, eliminating funding for a program that allows ordinary Canadians to challenge unjust laws, legislation, and government policies at the Supreme Court level (now only the wealthy and corporations get heard) and equating dissent of his policies with a lack of patriotism and treason. Those are just a few I can think of off the top of my head.
Sixty years of social progress was lost last night. Harper wants to re-instate the death penalty, scrap universal health care for a for-profit system, eliminate public funding for political parties, curtail women’s rights to abortion, enact draconian “law and order” crime bills and engage in internet surveillance of the populace, give corporations and the wealthy while increasing military spending dramatically and pouring countless, precious Canadian kids into pointless meatgrinder wars just so he can thump his flabby, neocon chest.
Stephen Harper and Preston Manning — his former boss in the Reform Party — set out 25 years ago to polarize Canadian politics and destroy the centrist Liberal Party; they achieved that goal last night. Jack Layton’s 102-seat opposition NDP have been neutered even before they get through the door of the House of Commons by Harper’s overwhelming 167-seat majority. Fundamentalist evangelical Christians and Christian Dominionists and Reconstructionists who are strong Harper supporters and have been gaining considerable access and influence in the PMO and Privy Council will demand the advancement of a very socially conservative agenda, expecting the elimination of abortion rights, elimination of same-sex marriage rights and possible criminalization of gays, lesbians, and transgendereds, censorship control over media and culture and the possible re-instatement of anti-blasphemy laws, the teaching of creationism in science classes, elimination of funding for stem cell research, and the re-establishment of the preeminence of religion in society. Corporate interests will get massive tax cuts, an across the board roll back of environmental and consumer protection laws, reduced competition and acquisition regulations, elimination of worker’s rights to organize unions and collective bargaining, privatization of private and public pension plans, and increased foreign takeovers of Canadian natural resources including freshwater. And there won’t be thing one that the NDP opposition will be able to do to stop it.
Harper has worked tirelessly and ruthlessly for many years for this; he won’t allow it to be overturned by an “unwanted election” in four years. He has a tough, disciplined group of MP’s that he micro-manages with an iron fist, and his goal is to keep that in perpetuity in the form of a one-party system. His plans to eliminate the per-vote and election reimbursement public subsidies that will drastically reduce funds available for election campaigns for some parties while his party will reap enormous corporate donations. What we’ll be left with in the end is a situation akin to Saddam-era Iraq: token elections and token opposition with only one possible outcome.
My Canada, the Canada of tolerance, openness, freedom, and respect of and love for democracy, died last night. It’s been handed over to a group that values bigotry, misogyny, power, fear and ignorance over the better aspirations of our species.
I’m hoping it is not all as bad as Neil prognosticates. The idea though that we have to count on Harper to moderate his policies in order to be reelected in four years seems to be a very weak check on the sort of destructive policies he champions. It is May 3, 2011 – We’ll revisit this post and see where we are in a couple of months.
I’m curious as to the lack of story around the little issue of our own government not following the rules of Canadian Democracy. I guess Steve was not happy with just shutting parliament down, but he wanted his way with how our democracy is run.
Cute. I recommend not voting for him and his merry band of fascists.
Alberta is facing many challenges as the next boom approaches. It is more than likely that bounty of this boom will once again only benefit the rich and the larger corporations while yet again the people of Alberta must take a few of the crumbs that slip off the head table. The last part of the Parkland Institute report deals with what we can do make Alberta a better province for everyone, not just certain classes of society.
“1 STRENGTHENING COMMUNITY SERVICES:
Shift away from a business approach to one based on core service delivery and away from reliance on generosity and charity to one based on rights.
Recommendation 1: Develop a more inclusive and supportive attitude toward community service providers including:
• increased funding that is stable and longer-term;
• funding for staffing compensation equal to comparable direct public sector programs;
• accountability that is based on appropriate and manageable indicators and data collection; and
• funding and support to expand on community hub models for community-based service grouping and delivery.”
Accountable and based on data rather than whims of the rich? Novel idea.
“2 A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ALL ALBERTANS:
Improve access to quality social programs, increasing leisure time and reducing stress on families.
Recommendation 2: Provide greater support to improve the quality of life for all Albertans including: increased spending and program expansion related to culture and leisure, childcare and early learning, education, health care; and reduce working hours through shorter work weeks and increased vacation. Key recommendations include:
• expand community based public health services for Aboriginal communities and implement no child left behind policy;
• fully fund and deliver early learning programs based on the public school model (including junior and full-day kindergarten);
• fund universities to reduce tuition rates to $1,000 per year across all programs;
• increase paid leaves and reducing work hours to match European averages; and
• create adequate publicly funded, non-profit child care spaces at $7 per day.”
Will it be expensive to implement? Oh yes, but no more expensive that paying for the results of our current societal choices in terms of health care, police and prisons.
“3 INVESTING IN HOUSING AFFORDABILITY
Recommendation 3: Fulfill promise to eradicate homelessness by 2019 by complying with commitment of $3.3 billion in spending and building the necessary 8,000 new housing units.”
Are we just 8,000 units of affordable housing away in Alberta from making it a reality that no person needs to die of exposure during the winter? Instead of squabbling over powerlines and utility deregulation(still a bad idea) why isn’t this at the top of the political agenda?
“4 ENSURING DIGNITY AND AN ADEQUATE INCOME FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE
Recommendation 4: Strengthen the province’s social safety net through the development of programs that are universal, accessible and delivered in a non-stigmatizing manner. This includes:
• phase in a livable guaranteed annual income (GAI) to bring together programs for seniors, people with disabilities, unemployed workers, students and low income workers; and
• while working towards the GAI, social assistance rates need to be increased to the poverty line, rates must be indexed to inflation, asset levels increased, application process simplified, eligibility expanded and wait time shortened.”
Whot? Free handouts for the lazy?? How dare they? There will always be people who unfairly profit at societies expense, we stigmatize the poor because the rich do not want us to closely examine their privileged state and the dodges they are currently employing to game the system in their favour. Better to hit the poor hard and then cry for more police and prisons to warehouse the poor, all the while neglecting the conditions responsible for a good portion of the criminality.
5 PROTECTING WORKERS:
Improve income security, equality and quality of life through expanded worker protections.
“Recommendation 5: Provide more comprehensive protection and assistance to those working full-time, full-year to ensure an adequate standard of living. This includes:
• implement a living wage policy;
• strengthen labour protections including both employment standards and labour organizing procedures; and
• abandon the temporary foreign worker program, and expedite and better support foreign credential recognition.
Nothing radical here, just making working conditions adequate for all Albertans, not just those lucky enough to be part of a union.
“6 DEMOCRACY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE
Recommendation 6: Reform the democratic process to ensure that it accurately represents Alberta’s population diversity and distribution. This includes:
• adopt a proportional representation electoral system;
• establish an independent body with representation from Aboriginal, newcomers and women’s groups;
• implement an accountability and reporting system based on well-being indices; and
• work with Aboriginal groups to increase funding for and expand a comprehensive, community-based, culturally appropriate policy agenda with targets for improving quality of life and reducing disparities.”
PR would be a breath of fresh air in the stagnant backwater that is Alberta politics. Proof? The PC have been in power for longer than I have been alive, it really is time for a change.
“7 PROGRESSIVE REVENUE REFORM
Recommendation 7: Re-establish the link between taxes and public services. Revenues should be returned to levels that allow continued support commensurate with changing demographics and inflation for public goods like health care, education, and social programs that Albertans feel are citizenship rights. This includes:
• reinstate progressive taxes, with increased progressivity at the top end and brackets indexed to inflation;
• raise corporate taxes to the Canadian average;
• reinstate the liquor tax;
• remove gambling revenues from general revenues and instead adequately fund arts and culture, communities and early learning from progressive taxes; and
• collect all natural resource rents and keep them out of general revenues for use in building a future for the province.”
The first sentence is the most important – “Re-establish the link between taxes and public services.” This linkage needs to be reestablished so people can see the results of their taxes working for them making their lives better. The current decline in the standards of living in Alberta can be traced back to when this link was broken and we have been picking up the pieces ever since.
“Alberta is at a crossroad. This report has highlighted what it means to have economic growth at the expense of social cohesion. With over 80 per cent of incomes concentrated in only half of households and the lowest ranking in the nation for sense of belonging to their communities, Alberta needs a new policy framework. This report provides the framework for a new development path; one where economic growth serves social goals and where disparity is minimized, ensuring an adequate income, quality of life and dignity for all Albertans.”
Could not say it better myself. :)
This is the middle third of a brief overview of the Parkland Institute report on the decline of equality in Alberta that will focus on the specific contributing factors mentioned but not enumerated in part one. Starting with:
“a | The Tax Cut Agenda: The flat tax was a transfer of wealth to high-income Albertans. Middle-income Albertans actually pay more tax than in most other provinces, while the top income bracket pays by far the lowest taxes in the nation. Alberta also has the lowest corporate taxes in the nation and collects by far the lowest taxes in the nation, $10.7 billion less than BC, the next lowest province in 2008.”
Ah, Alberta where we penalize the middle class for daring to be successful. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well as long as you’ve already ‘made it’.
“b | Stalled Social Spending: Alberta spends less on average than many other provinces on a per capita basis. As a percentage of GDP, total spending of combined provincial and municipal governments in Alberta fell from a high of 21 per cent in 1991-1993 to only 13.4 per cent in 2007. For comparison, the OECD average was 21 per cent, while at the top end Sweden and France spend 29 per cent.”
We bleat and moan about our healthcare spending and then never think to look at the precursors to ill health, that is the social conditions we face and the supports in place to ensure healthy living for everyone in Alberta. As the statistics show, we spend less on the front-end social supports and then wonder why the back end is costing us so much.
“c | Labour markets: Jobs have become increasingly contingent – temporary, part-time and self-employed – while average wages have barely been keeping pace with inflation. A study of inequality trends in OECD countries found that the most important factor in equality was trade union membership. On this front, Alberta compares poorly with the lowest rate of unionization in Canada.”
Of course Alberta has the lowest rate of unionization, we need our workers free of the protections unions offer so they can be more easily exploited.
“d | Offloading of community services: In downsizing government many services were offloaded to the voluntary or community sector which has been shifted to a ‘contract culture,’ with insecure funding and low wages and benefits.”
Ah, the hallowed “Charities will pick up the slack” balderdash makes its appearance. Private charities are not comparable to public institutions when it comes to taking care of the disadvantaged. The private charities meme exists more to assuage the guilt of the wealthy of society rather than making a meaningful effort at tackling the conditions that presuppose the necessity of a private charity in the first place.
It is not all doom and gloom, we as Albertans can push to make Alberta better for everyone and here is how. How we can fix Alberta will be tomorrows post. :)
The constant boom/bust cycle in Alberta allows the Tory government to evade the valid concerns of its citizenry and consistently mismanage the wealth of the province. In a report by the Parkland Institute the failures of the current government are highlighted and summarized. I’ll be commenting on the executive summary, but you can get it and the full report here.
“Alberta has been prone to booms and busts but overall has seen long-term growth in the size of the economy and a dramatic increase in wealth. However, along with this wealth has come disparity; inequality in both income and quality of life is creating problems across Alberta. Alberta’s economic growth has gone mostly to those in the higher incomes. Quality of life indicators such as income security, personal disposable income, social cohesion, food security, housing affordability, leisure and family time, and educational attainment show that middle and low-income Albertans are struggling to keep the status quo and many are being left behind.”
Funny how that works when you have a flat tax that absurdly favours the rich. I’m not sure where we ditched the idea of progressive taxation, but it is a major coup for socialism for the wealthy.
“Research shows that the costs of this inequality cut across all of society. Some of the impacts visible in Alberta include: economic and social exclusion evidenced by increasing food bank usage and homelessness; Alberta has the highest rates of family violence in the country and leads the country in domestic assault, homicide-suicide and stalking; Alberta has record low voter turnout; Albertans rank the lowest in the nation for sense of belonging in their community; Alberta has low university participation; and Albertans have the lowest leisure time in the nation.”
Ah, the hardworking Albertan. More likely to be abusive, poor and atomized within society. Not exactly the cherished “Alberta Advantage” that was the talk of the town not so long ago. Lets look at the inequalities the report mentions.
“• Aboriginal families, single parents, and newcomers in Alberta live in deeper and a more persistent state of poverty than in any other province in Canada. The unemployment rate for newcomers is double that of the general population. Women continue to earn 72 cents of the male dollar.”
Yep, a big thanks to the inherent Patriarchal and racist memes that are so prevalent in our culture.
“• Minimum wage does not pay enough to live and work at levels that allow people to realistically meet their costs.”
Is it really surprising that one cannot make it on 8.80/hr?
“• Middle income families have come under increasing pressure. Wages have barely kept up with inflation and in some cases fallen, they are working more hours, have less disposable income, higher debt loads and they pay amongst the highest out-of-pocket costs for services such as childcare, health care, education, utilities, recreation and vehicle insurance in the nation.”
Ah yes, enjoy all the benefits of the free market, you can in fact, pay more for less and be less well off as a result of your hard work. Universal day-care, that is the ugly scourge of socialism that the people of Alberta will not stand for.
“• Albertans work 1,880 hours per year, the highest in Canada, and much higher than many other developed economies. Albertans work an additional 300 hours or about 7.5 weeks more than the OECD 15 average. This is because Alberta has a much longer work week and has less paid holidays and vacation entitlements (two weeks compared to six weeks for the EU).”
Because working harder not smarter is the paradigm that we have chosen for our little sweatshop of a province.
“• Social assistance rates are far below the poverty line and have not been keeping pace with inflation. Increasingly stringent asset and earnings exemption regulations make it difficult to escape from poverty. The current patchwork of different programs means people can fall between the cracks.”
I think we’ve channelled social-Darwinians to construct our social programs. The delusional idea that helping people less makes for a better society remains proudly(?) emblazoned upon the Alberta boilerplate.
“• Alberta’s Aboriginal peoples experience the most extreme disparity: income disparities are severe (Aboriginal incomes at 2/3 the average income for men and ½ for women); levels of unemployment are triple the average; Aboriginal children are very over-represented in children in care; there is disproportionate representation of Aboriginal people at all stages of the justice system, both as victims and offenders; levels of educational attainment are much lower; health outcomes are much poorer; housing quality is lower; and food security is lower.”
It must be because they are lazy and just do not want to work. It is almost like they have a victimhood complex and just want handouts from the government (insert anecdata about the lazy Indian you know about here). Would they be in such a bind if they started out with the same privileges white males get in society? It is about as fair as running a 100 yard dash but some people have 50 pound sacks of potatoes strapped to their ankles.
So here are the problems, what are the causes?
“Key causes of Alberta’s disparity: The erosion of social infrastructure through the adoption of a flat-tax regime and 25 years of governments spending too little on social assistance programs have exacerbated inequalities as have labour market policies and offloading to community services agencies.”
It is almost like the rich are setting the agenda so that only they do well and a big hearty “frack-you” to the rest of us. That gentle readers, is the political truth in Alberta.
The specifics of the mismanagement of Alberta will be covered on Tuesday as 900 words for a post is already well into TL;DR. territory.
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