…#tellviceverything edition!

My son and I were hit by a stomach bug the other night so we spent the day yesterday comfortably at home. It afforded me the opportunity to follow a Twitter hashtag called #tellviceverything. This was aimed at Justice Minister Vic Toews, who has been trumpeting the virtues of Bill C 30… which will effectively give the police broad authorities to track everything that Canadians do digitally – without judicial oversight.

I wrote about this the other day, if your memory if failing (like mine!).

Anyways… some clever dude thought of this tag in order for Canadians to tell Mr. Toews about intimate details about themselves… sorta saving Vic the trouble of doing it himself. And it was also taking the high road. Instead of tweeting details about Toews, users created the #TellVicEverything hashtag to share the banal details of their lives.. Here were some of my favourites:

@ToewsVic I admit it, I shot JR on Dallas. #TellVicEverything

Cats are both soft AND sharp! @ToewsVic #TellVicEverything

“The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation.”- Mein Kampf – Adolf Hitler

Ralph Manheim translation, Page 403 of the 1943 version. source: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Mein_Kampf

Note – now before anyone gets all huffy about me comparing the Cons to the Nazis – I am not. I am simply pointing out that previous shady regimes have used the “protecting the children” justification in the past. I’m sure Castro and Che said something similar… OK?

As well, this is completely separate from the personal attcks of Toews and his family. As much as I cannot stand the guy, I DO NOT condone these types of attacks! Politics is rough and tumble but keep one’s personal life out of the mix! We are NOT the USA!

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Woo-hoo! Pro ball is coming back to O-Town! I hope it is a Jays affiliate! If so, then you can sign me up for season tickets!!!

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Whoa. It looks like the Alberta PCs may not be a big of a shoo-in as in past elections. The über right-wing Wildrose Party has some traction.

Ah. Alberta. Canada’s answer to Texas.

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Gotta love 22 Minutes…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2fXWslhzx8I

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My eldest is an AC Milan fan, and I am of course a Gooner.

She thought this was funny to send to me after the debacle at the San Siro the other day…

I’ll have my revenge… oh yes I shall!

Sigh.

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Finally, and maybe most importantly – at least to me – is the SC decision that mandatory religion courses do not harm the religious freedoms of parents and their children. Harper’s stacking of the Court with conservatives is paying some dividends.

So much for that division between church and state.

I am an Atheist, but a tolerant one. I believe that the superstitious beliefs of some over the eons have done more harm than good but believe in the “live and let live” doctrine. You go ahead and believe what you wish, but leave me to do the same.

This pokes a whole in that.

The contentious program, known as the Ethics and Religious Culture program, was made mandatory in Quebec schools in May, 2008.

Its stated purpose was to expose children to a range of cultures, creeds and religious traditions such as Judaism, aboriginal spirituality and other religious traditions. The goals of the program specified that an emphasis would be placed on the historical significance of French culture and the role Catholic and Protestant Christian traditions.

The parents behind the constitutional challenge, a Catholic couple who reside in Drummondville, Que., argued that the program was at odds with guarantees in the provincial Education Act.

They alleged that the program could expose their two children to harm and disruption, “caused by forced, premature contact” with beliefs that are incompatible with those held by the parents. They said that the program could also have an adverse effect on the religious beliefs the children were being taught in their home.

What if the OCDSB suddenly decided that all those in Grade 4 were required to take a course on religion? After this case, that would be totally valid.

I seldom side with catholics on anything concerning education policy, but parents do have the right to control what belief systems their kids are exposed to. And Atheism is very much a system of beliefs just like catholicism – a system that I do not want compromised as long as they are children.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

I mean, after the last few decades of sexual indiscretions by officials in the RC church, can anyone be shocked by this?

What hypocricy! All will be forgiven in his confession next Sunday but the damage goes on and on and on.  Kids have suffered because of this so-called respected member of the community’s sick tastes.

If you are a practicing catholic, how the hell do you kneel in church every Sunday and listen to these perverts talk about salvation when they are so far from it?

Seriously. How do you do it? And don’t give me the line about these men being the exception to the rule. It seems that sexual deviance (and child porn is indeed a deviance) is more the rule here?

I would LOVE to have someone explain to me why these men are still held in high esteem. Anyone?

Beuller?

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Here in Canada, the celebration of the birthday of a long dead and foreign Queen is more likely to be called the May 2-4 weekend, the May long weekend, cottage opening weekend or the “Holy shit, the blackflies are out” long weekend.

However you dice it, the three days away from the labours of labour are a welcome break for those of us that don’t slave away in jobs that really don’t get “breaks” like these… cops, firedudes, bartenders, hookers, etc.

And I, like everyone else, LOVE it! In fact, I’m taking an extra leave day tomorrow (Friday). The weather forecast is favourable to doing some much-needed lawn and garden work sans enfants et sans ma femme! I may even take a break and hit the gym too! A whole day to myself and then THREE more to boot!!!  Woo-ho!

But wait! What is that grumbly and gravely sound of discontent that is simmering just below my conscious glee? Oh yeah. I remember. I still get pissed with the fact that we have yet to find and agree upon a better occasion to celebrate other than a dead foreign Queen’s birthday! Plus, just look at her! If she was even a little bit hot or super smart or something, then maybe I’d ease up a bit. But just look at her!

Yeah, yeah – I know a bunch of you neo-monarchists (ain’t that a contradiction?) are simply aghast that once again one of we republicans dare to mention foul things about the sacred monarchy – and only days from that special day itself! Oh, I feel my billowing petticoats singing in disaccord!

But c’mon. Get real. Get real as in 21st c. real.  Can we not celebrate something a little more, uh, Canadian for this most Canadian of days? Why do we and our elected representatives insist on avoiding this issue because we fear the wrath of the angered mobs of Monarchist League of Canada members riding their motorised scooters to Parliament Hill?

Aren’t they all or shouldn’t they be all dead by now?

I’ll answer by own question – no. They aren’t all dead and I know a couple of misguided souls who are sub-70 in years and who are simply enthralled by the pomp and ceremony that the monarchy offers.  I guess that might be a reason why catholics are attracted to the papacy… the white gowns, totally sick bling and totally pimped out cribs will do that to some folks.

Anyways, in the name of coming up with some more reasonable and less-dead things to attach to the weekend. And risking life and limb – I know – here are some suggestions… feel free to add and maybe I’ll compile a list and send it off to my MP.

o    National Hockey Day
o    National Blackfly Day
o    National Beer Day (after all – May 2-4 is the May 2-4)
o    National It’s Almost Spring in Manitoba Day
o    Pierre Elliott Trudeau Day (bet that would go over well in Red Deer!)
o    Cottage Opening Day

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Every now and then – just for comic relief – I go to America’s top source of spin to see what those little minds are spooning out these days.

Came across this story this morning which has me once again wondering why there are a gazillion otherwise sane folks out there who put their heart, mind and faith in the Catholic Church.

The home of the Fighting Irish is granting President Obama an honourary degree and will have him address the graduates. Being a Catholic university, the church is completely apoplectic about these going ons.

‘The proposed granting of an honorary doctorate at Notre Dame University to our president, who is so aggressively advancing an anti-life and anti-family agenda, is rightly the source of the greatest scandal,” said Archbishop Raymond Burke, who is the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s highest court.

In a move that somehow resembles sanity, the University is sticking with their plans.

After initial criticism of the invitation, Notre Dame University President Rev. John I. Jenkins called Obama an “inspiring leader” who follows in a long tradition of presidential guest speakers. He added that the invitation does not mean universal support for Obama administration policies.

And here I thought that the church was all about love, tolerance, respect for everyone – and all that mushy stuff.  I guess it doesn’t extend to a black President who just happens to be left of Attila the Hun on the social democratic side of things. He’s even a christian! And from what I read, a pretty steadfast one at that!

Whether or not you support the freedom of a woman to choose or not, ranting on against the choice of a University offering a sitting President an Honourary Degree is not the way to convince others that your view of the world is the right one.

Universities have traditionally been the vanguard of free expression  – whether the school is secular or not. This is a symbolic act that is an expression of the institution’s admiration of a groundbreaking President. This venomous and rabid rant is doing nothing but further exposing the Middle Ages mentality of the vatican.

He blamed loose morals for legislation that would allow same-sex marriages and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which states have implemented to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

“At the root of the confusion and error about marriage is the contraceptive mentality which would have us believe that the inherently procreative nature of the conjugal union can in practice be mechanically or chemically eliminated while the marital act remains unitive. It simply cannot be sold,” Burke said.

“Loose morals”?  “Contraceptive mentality”? Does this guy know how ridiculaous he sounds?

I don’t know about you, but the vatican could use a visit by some Mexican pigs!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

This – well, it says it all, doesn’t it? Every sperm is sacred

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Hey? How’s THAT for an aggressive title?

In case you haven’t been following this, Pope Benedict XVI is doing a tour of Africa and is sticking to his guns about the whole condom thing… ie., use one during a horizontal bop session you’ll be slingin’ coal into the abyss once you rid yourself of your mortal coil.

In the name of all things that are human, when will the RC’s get their collective heads out of the sand? Condoms are the most practical way to stem the tide of AIDS that is devastating many families and communities in Africa. Instead of realising the inevitable slap-your-hand-on-the forehead-Mr.-Obvious-thing and begin to move into this millennium, the Catholic Church is actually becoming more forceful in its opposition to the use of condoms or other forms of birth control.

He (the Pope) had never directly addressed condom use, but has said the Roman Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against AIDS. The Vatican encourages sexual abstinence to fight the spread of the disease.

“You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms,” the pope told reporters aboard the Alitalia plane on its way to Yaounde, Cameroon, where he has arrived to start his first visit to Africa as pontiff. “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

Abstinence? “Increasing the problem”? What are they smoking?

At least the last guy who wore the long robes and major bling bling seemed to be at least approaching the last century in terms of his thinking. This dude is having 12th c. flashbacks!

Abstinence has ever been and will never be the answer to the AIDS problem, or teen pregnancies, or STDs. Hormones will always out-trump reason – always has and always will. Condoms are a cheap and effective way to prevent pregnancies and scales back the rate of population growth in the developing world. Even Sarah Palin’s daughter is saying that abstinence is not a practical option. In an interview with Christian Today, Bristol declares the following: “Everyone should be abstinent…but it is not realistic at all.”

PLUS they are an effective barrier against HIV.

PLUS they are relatively inexpensive – especially when compared to the social cost of carrying for AIDS victims.

PLUS what is wrong with sex anyways? Over at the Perpetual Post (a blog I just discovered), they said it best:

People, there is nothing wrong with having sex, provided you’re smart about it. But the thing is, the average person isn’t actually all that smart. And these are the folks who are breeding like crazy, further dumbing down the gene pool with many, many equally dumb babies. So, the very least we, the intelligent portion of the population, can do is to make knowledge available – namely, knowledge about how to have sex without disastrous repercussions.

Why oh why is this archaic institution still around? There are millions upon millions of Catholics who go along with these medieval edicts and carry them close to their heart. I will never in my life understand why.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario