Motion to examine definition of human being defeated in Commons

Toronto Star:

OTTAWA—A Conservative MP’s pro-life bid to have Parliament study the definition of a human being has gone down to defeat in the House of Commons.
Stephen Woodworth’s motion was voted down 203-91.
Eight cabinet ministers voted in favour of the motion, including Status of Women Minister Rona Ambrose, government House leader Peter Van Loan and Trade Minister Ed Fast.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper had allowed his caucus to vote freely on the issue, but did not vote for it out of concern it would re-open the debate on abortion.
Four Liberals also voted in favour of Woodworth’s motion, while the NDP caucus opposed it.

Somewhere a Bishop is kicking a chair.  Maybe now they can get back to their real job.  Four Liberals voting for an anti-choice anti-woman resolution makes it impossible to take the party seriously on social issues.

And the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women...oh nevermind.

Source



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Draw Mohammed Day 2012

I forgot today was the third annual  Draw Mohammed Day, a popular internet movement born out of frustration with violent reactions to simple parodies such as cartoons.  While I had mixed feelings about it, on the whole I think these kind of movements are quite appropriate.  Islam is one of the last ideologies in the world where thought crimes, even by non-adherents can result in rather violent over-reactions.

People are right to insist on an unfettered right to make fun of something as a form of free speech or conscience. In our western tradition we have quite a long history of satire and mockery.  We finally got to a point in our civilization where we (mostly) no longer persecute people for mocking the sacred or important. Partly because of the spread of democracy and the corresponding individual rights it contains, but also because authoritarianism and intimidation never worked as way to change people's minds. Everyone knows it doesn't work.

I can't draw so I submit the above stock cartoon as my depiction of the prophet.  If I could draw I would make something subtle and tasteful.  I would make Mohammed a woman.  If the founder of Islam were a woman it would be the greatest irony of history.  It would drop a bomb on the widespread misogyny of religion in general, and Islam in particular.

The other problem is I don't really have a firm opinion on whether Mohammed actually existed or not. Like Jesus, there are a number of possibilities, from being made up completely, to being a composite of a few people, to being a real person obscured wholly by mythology.  So all this outrage could be over someone who didn't exist.

I am an atheist, someone who rejects god and gods, revelation,  and superstitions. As a result it doesn't interest me too much to get overly obsessive about one particular religion.  Among the social media types who argue about religion and culture there is definitely a sub-culture of Islamophobia.   I don't really wish to get involved with that level of hatred.  I think it's okay to hate ideas or ideologies, but not people or groups of people. It's irrational. In Canada nowadays you more than likely have friends, co-workers, and neighbors who are Muslim.  We have to co-exist.

And besides, if you wake up one day and find out you sound just like Mark Steyn or Ezra Levant, it's game over for your brain.



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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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Insult the Queen Day

An Australian novelist Harry Nicolaides has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for writing a novel in which he apparently insults the Royal Family of Thailand. That would be a Thai prison he's going to not an Australian one. I suspect and hope he will spend a short time there and then be pardoned. Even though Australia produces the worlds shittiest literature there is no excuse for not allowing people to insult Royalty. The Royal Family of Thailand cannot be insulted as it interferes with their important work of creating political stability, which I hear they're very good at.

I only bring up this sad story to make a point that our Monarch is much less thin skinned and can take our incessant jibber jabber about her and her family.

I could sit here and write that Her Majesty is a useless god-forsaken git with a DNA damaged Heir who took 40 years to barely comprehend the rules of Polo. I have no fear that the police will show up at my door. For I am a Canadian, and I can freely say rotten and profane things about my head of state. I may even write a novel.

God Save our Queen, really. Our Monarch is sanguine and gracious, prone to walking through the gas lit streets on Christmas eve, unafraid of being accosted by lonely liquored men. She peers into our dimly lit front windows and views our impoverishment with love and understanding. In this age of coups and usurpations by godless socialists and Felquistes a patriot can't be too vigilant. Her Majesty is the only glue holding our exemplary democracy together. She stares down our perils so we don't have to.

God only knows why someone wouldn't be a loyal monarchist these days.

In my next post I'll make fun of God. Please recommend this post