Hijacking Penn State

As if the tragedy at Penn State wasn't bad enough in and of itself, people with unrelated axes to grind are now using it to get attention.

1.  A spokesman for an anti-gay hate group blames gay men and homosexuality for the alleged sexual assault(s) at Penn State.  By repeating the old lie about how pedophilia is linked to homosexuality they managed to suck up a considerable amount of media attention.  Actually, this myth doesn't need to be debunked, as such, because there has never been any real scientific research to support the claim.  Some might disagree with me, but I've come to believe that any kind of social science analysis or theory offered by religious groups is completely worthless.

2.  Some climate change denialists who have been engaged in long term harassment of Penn State researcher Michael Mann have linked the sex scandal to Mann's research.  I'm not even sure I understand the logic here, but it seems to be something like...because Penn State had governance problems as seen in the alleged sexual abuse scandal, therefore the prevailing climate change science must be wrong.  Oh, that hurt my brain.

Because in the fractured minds of these people the victims don't really matter.  They are only props, used to further narrow misguided ideological crusades.


Off topic, but speaking of religion and social science I found this article about Michael Pearl, a Christian dominionist author who advocates beating children as young  as a few months old. The article is written by Frank Schaeffer who knows his way around these circles.  I was reading about this before on a few christian mommy blogs. It's really kind of scary.








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Two Canadian Artists

Doris McCarthy was a Calgary born visual artist and author, but spent most of her life in Scarborough Ontario.  She had a bit of a thing for icebergs, which is fine by me because I love northern landscape art. Pictured below, Iceberg Fantasy #40.

Kananginak Pootoogook (1935-2010) was an Inuit artist who worked in etching and stone sculpture. Pictured below Five Seabirds (2005)
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Polanski's 'The Pianist'

A very good movie.  Mostly based on the memoirs of Wladyslaw Szpilman a classical pianist who managed to survive the Warsaw Ghetto and the holocaust. Parts of the story came from Roman Polanski's childhood memories of Poland during the war.  These type of movies are so heartbreaking.

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"I promise to eliminate some important Government agencies whose names escape me right at the moment. "   All the pundits I've been reading are saying this is the end of the line for the Hair from Texas. Time will tell, dumbness never rules anyone out of high office.

Krugram seems to think it's over, and references Molly Ivan.  I remember her column about Perry a few years ago. Please recommend this post

Quote of the Day

“I grieve for the children and their families, and I pray for their comfort and relief. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.” - Joe Paterno”

After learning that he and Penn State university President Graham Spanier were fired immediately over their handling of a sex abuse scandal.

CNN Story

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What the Mayor Said

Story Here. Please recommend this post

How to Make Rob Anders Look Sane

In addition to being a part-time pollster, Dean Del Mastro is also an amateur bishop.

Dean Del Mastro, the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, said on Facebook last month that it was “outrageous” the Catholic school board in Peterborough, Ont. had invited Trudeau to speak for a second time in three years. “If they are looking for a truly great speaker, who also happens to be Catholic, perhaps they might invite [Immigration] Minister Jason Kenney,” Mr. Del Mastro wrote on Oct. 12. “Are there any tenets of the Catholic faith that Justin supports?”

Because Justin Trudeau is a good speaker and communicates well with young people. Not everything can be explained by politics and pedigrees.  Jason Kenney would bore those poor kids to death, or possibly leave them with some kind of unnatural fear and loathing.

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Harper's Undiplomatic Behavior

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is on a trade mission in Brazil right now. He caused a bit of a diplomatic problem by acting like a five year old. Here is my rough translation/paraphrase of the story as reported in a Brazilian Newspaper.

The Original is here.

Title: Canadian Prime Minister goes to the bathroom waiting for demands to be met.

The Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, has caused an embarrassment in Brazilian diplomacy on Monday, demanding a change in the protocol and only going to the banquet hall for lunch with the President, after meeting President Dilma Roussef first.

Speeches and toasts are common in this type of event, and can be both before and after lunch. Dilma preferred them later, but Harper made sure they were done before the guests start eating at the meeting yesterday. He did not explain why.

He had already angered aides and diplomats at the Presidential Palace, telling reporters that he would speak there, breaking the rule that such interviews always occur in the Foreign Ministry.

Brazil denied this request. Harper then went to the Foreign Ministry, for lunch, visible angry, and demanding the cancellation of the of the toasts. Then he locked himself in the private bathroom of Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota while waiting for an answer.

Bewildered, Brazilian diplomats did not know what to do, whether to heed the wishes of the Brazilian President, or surrender to the whims of the Canadian Prime Minister.

Only when it was confirmed that he would be obliged, did Harper proceed to the hall where the banquet took place. Lunch was palm heart salad, guinea hen and "pineapple delight". Toasts were made with wines.

Although the Canadian Embassy was surprised by these events, they confirmed the story with the diplomats who were at lunch, and who were in agreement with the distress of their (Brazilian) colleagues, who tried to resolve the impasse.

The lunch was scheduled for 1PM, and the next meeting of the President was the induction of former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim as new defense minister.

Corrections appreciated.

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Should University Athletes Get Private Chaplains?

Via Pharyngula:

The University of Iowa is using University funds to hire a Christian chaplain to minister to the needs of the school’s football team. It’s not hard to see how patriotism, athleticism and religion all get stirred into the same pot. It’s a potent cocktail as well as a huge industry.

An online poll at a radio station asked viewers if they favoured the University creating this position. Prior to the Pharyngula blog post it was running at 60% yes, but after…98% against.

Oh well. Myers' blog has a huge following and they tend to crush polls now and again. But I would seriously like to know how many people in Iowa favour a public university creating this position. Please recommend this post

Minnesota Archbishop: Opposing Marriage Equality Is Not Anti-Gay

Via ThinkProgress:

Archbishop John C. Nienstedt: “The Minnesota Catholic Conference, made up of the seven Catholic bishops from the state, support this amendment not for prejudicial or political reasons, but rather for reasons that are theological, biological and pastoral.”

(Original news item.)

Lets assume for a second that the Archbishop's homophobia is not born of prejudicial or political reasons (which no intelligent person would believe for a second). That leaves his pseudo-humanist argument that it's about theology biology, and pastoral authority or care.

Theology isn't a useful factor here because there are many different theologies. Some theologies actually acknowledge the whole person and accept gay people as equal and normal. Shock! Aside from that theology is a useless guideline for public policy.

Biology has no relevance to gay marriage, or the legalization of it. The Archbishop still thinks he lives in a world where his distortions of modern science are actually relevant to society at large.

That leaves us with Pastoral authority or care. This only applies to Catholics. Leave the rest of us and public policy out of it.

(Shakes angry atheist fist up to the sky) Please recommend this post

December 18

This is not the type of thing I usually write about, but...

This is one the few photos of my dad that I have, standing outside the Alberta Legislature in his RCAF uniform. Hard to say what the year is, or how old he is. I barely had any time with my father, and never got to know him at all. On a blistering cold December 18th day he died, and that was it. The memory images of that day are bizarre and frightening and come around now and again.

I think about him all the time, and more so at this time of year. Not that it would help, but I know next to nothing about what he did as a young man or what he was like. And none my elders who knew my father have ever shared anything. And of course I often think about what our lives would have been like if our families had been better or luckier.

As you can imagine, it's not hard for me to understand why many find this time of year full of mixed emotions. Please recommend this post

Life is Bigger than Politics

News was released today that former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein is suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This is a horrible disease that has no cure and robs the body and brain of oxygen. It doesn't have good outcomes.

It got me thinking about people in politics, their legacy, and the way political biases sometimes get in the way of appreciating simple issues of life and death and family and loss.

When Richard Holbrook died my Twitter stream lit up with many comments. It was very polarized. Detractors were glad Holbrook was dead, accusing him of being a party to genocide and so on. People who liked Holbrook idolized him. Both sides were exaggerating and posturing. Politics as usual, and certainly an example of free speech that many elsewhere do not have. But the historical debate about Holbrook's effect on world events is not going anywhere. It will still be here next week.

My thoughts about Holbrook were not really political, just that he had a family who was devastated by his unexpected death. And to have to deal with that in the context of a furious public discussion seemed horrible to me. There are no relevant politics in the immediacy of death. Yet there is an unlimited future down the road to analyse and debate. Patience may be a virtue at these times.

Back to Klein. Premier Stelmach said some nice words about Klein. But he also said:

It is a wonderful time to reflect on Ralph’s wonderful accomplishments.

Actually, Mr. Stelmach, no it isn't. It's not a time for politics at all. And believe me that would be a highly charged, polarized reflection.

It's hard for me to refrain from saying something negative about Klein right now, but to be honest it's not all that important in the broader scheme of life and health.(I've written about Klein many times in the past. I was rarely very nice.)

There will be decades and decades to talk and argue about Klein's legacy. Maybe that time is not right now. Life is bigger than politics. Families and their grieving are important, and we should think about them too. Please recommend this post

Consequences in Lala Land

When I read stuff like this, I fill with despair and even fear.

These men crave followers and attention so they offer cures for everything, but with next to no professional skill or credentials to deal with mental health problems. To make it worse, emotionally incapacitated people are taught not to question the Church's authority, and to believe in miraculous cures that never occur. It's malpractice, but they get away with it because no one wants to persecute a Church.

And if you happen to be gay AND depressed you'll be thrown into an indescribable hell hole.

I put them in the same category as those who think you can cure depression with vitamins, reiki, magnets, or countless other quackeries. They can do great harm, up to and including suicide.

Becky's story is doubly tragic. First she lost her father, who probably believed he could pray his illness away. If only I had stronger faith, he probably told himself, right up until the end. The second tragedy is she doesn't seem to get it. At all.

Jesus doesn't cure depression.
Prayer doesn't cure depression.
There are no miracle cures for serious illness.
Depression is not caused by sin or lack of faith.

A family physician knows the proper protocols and tests to figure out your physical and mental condition. And they know the treatments that are most likely to be effective.

Trust me on this, Elmer Gantry can't help you. Please recommend this post

Open Letter to Dr. Elizabeth Cannon

Please consider faxing or emailing this open letter to University of Calgary President Dr. Elizabeth Cannon. This is regarding Dr. Flanagan's comments on CBC re Julian Assange.

I recommend including your own cover letter with your own thoughts to minimise the perception of spamming.

Also, please be respectful, she is not responsible for Dr. Flanagan's comments.

Contact Info:

Fax: 403-289-6800
Country code: +1
Email Elizabeth Cannon: president @ ucalgary.ca Please recommend this post

Flanigan: Diminished Expectations

I'm still taking in the Tom Flanagan's comments about assassinating Julian Assange. What amazed me about the comments was how casual and glib they were - as if another man's sub-judicial, illegal killing was academic. The snicker chilled me.

He apologized the next day for his glibness and said the right things about the rule of law, due process and so on, but these things sometimes take on a life of their own, even after apologies.

There are some angry people out there on social media and I believe their anger is justified. It makes me happy to know this isn't going away quietly. But what should the consequences be? There are a number of people who would have the University of Calgary fire Dr. Flanagan. Others propose censure or reprimand. (See Kris Kotarski's Facebook group here, which proposes censure.)

I doubt requests to fire will succeed for a number of reasons. Among them, academic freedom (see screen shot), his tenure, that the comments were not made as part of his academic duties, and that political correctness will likely prevail at the University.



Nonetheless I think the University should hear from its Students and alumni on this issue. Also, the general public. A University's values should reflect the community, which is generally open minded and progressive.

Right wing academics and culture warriors have been peddling the idea for years that universities are just full of corrupt lefties ruining the minds of young people, stifling free discussion, and are a general menace to society.

Yet when University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill published a somewhat inflammatory explanation of the 9-11 attacks, the University accused him of academic misconduct and went to great lengths to have him fired. This kind of thing was quite common in the Bush era.

I wonder how establishment Calgary would handle an academic going on the CBC and glibly suggesting the Pope be assassinated because of his birth control policies in Africa. I think that would set off a nuclear bomb of pious outrage.

The end result of this incident is more diminished expectations about public discourse. And that's something that Preston Manning, the founder of the Reform movement kept warning us about, which is also full of fabulously rich irony.

Update: Dec 2, 2010, 11:50 am MST - change some wording for clarity.

Update: Dec 2, 2010, 15:00 pm MST - grammar edits.

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The Future

Canada's new Governor General David Johnston aims a C7 assault rifle at the perception that the Monarchy is archaic and ridiculous. For the next while it will be all about guns, soldiers, hockey and cheap donuts. I Miss the Haitian lady.

Photo via Globe & Mail

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Sunday Night Marxism

Given all I've been reading about wiki-leaks, I can't help but thinking we would have been no worse off with Rufus T. Firefly as our leader. We've always been at war with Sylvania.

That and the unbelievably quiet revelation that former Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor was the de facto CIA station chief in Tehran under the Joe Clarke government.

Come back Mrs. Teasdale, we need you

Twitter Please recommend this post

Holy Biased Poll

I realize website polls are primarily for entertainment and shouldn't be taken seriously, especially not on a hyper-conservative radio site.

But this poll really stuck out as having a totally meaningless, poorly worded and biased set of choices.

There is some context to this. The "bureaucrats" bad, PC Government good theme has been coalescing all week among partisan conservatives.

The messaging will get heavier this coming week, blaming anyone and everyone - except the Tory Government - for the latest Health Care crisis.

CHED will use their talk radio shows to push this pro-Tory view. Guaranteed.

Update: Last time I checked 77% of the respondents believe the "bureaucrats" were to blame for this political crisis.

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‘In Memoriam’ for murdered Mexican anti-mining activist refused by Calgary Herald

According to a press release from the Council of Canadians:

An ‘In Memoriam’ classified ad to be run on November 27th on behalf of the family of murdered anti-mining activist Mariano Abarca Roblero has been called "unsuitable" by the Calgary Herald, though several other Canadian newspapers, including the Globe and Mail and the Edmonton Journal, have agreed to print it.

"We are confused about why the Calgary Herald would refuse a paid ‘In Memoriam’ on the anniversary of the death of Mariano Abarca. Former employees of Blackfire Exploration, a Calgary-based firm, are in jail in Chiapas, Mexico awaiting court appearances related to his murder. We sincerely hope the Herald is not simply trying to avoid controversy from a local company," says Rick Arnold, coordinator of Common Frontiers.

Sickening if true. I look forward to a time when the Calgary Herald just doesn't matter anymore.

Read more. Please recommend this post

Calgary Herald Opposes Basic Democracy

To no one's surprise the Calgary Herald wrote an op-ed wholly justifying the Senate's vote down of Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act. It seems so twisted, to me I can only summarise it in point form:

• The bill would cause irreparable economic harm while at the same time mandating unattainble C02 reduction goals. Unattainable, yet catastrophic.

• Millions will end up out of work and we'll be standing in soup lines.

• Ideological climate change denial trumps any consideration of basic democracy.

• Stephen Harper had no choice but to appoint Conservative partisans to the Senate because no other province would hold fake Senate elections like Alberta.

• Canadians will freeze in the dark, will have to stop driving, and will have turn down their heat by 40%.

• Our estimates and statistics were very carefully checked by Lord Monckton.

• For rhetorical purposes, the oil sands and coal based electricity do not exist and do not produce C02. All reductions are on individuals.

Ok, I made the part up about Monckton. But would you have doubted it if I hadn't said so?

As Harper's era comes to an end, and the rest of the world starts tackling climate change without us, the status quo will be defended by liars.

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