Tea Party Reformers Self-Destruct

This has been an awesome week, for those who actually want some sanity and decency in the world. As I said yesterday, Tea Party rabble-rouser Rush Limbaugh is getting globally laughed at, for his ridiculous claim that The Dark Knight Rises is a Democrat propaganda piece, because the villain is named Bane (nevermind that the character was created almost 20 years ago, and put into the movie long before Romney's business history became an issue). Today, there were even more setbacks for the far-right of North America.

In my home and native land, the Harper Conservatives have lost a Federal Court case, to stop some of last year's election results from being overturned. The government tried to say that -- despite several close ridings, which the Cons won, being targeted by illegal and deceptive robocalls on Election Day -- the case had no merit, just because it was brought about by a left-wing lobby group called the Council of Canadians. As usual, the far-right loves to think that just because it's being severely criticized by somebody, it means that their critics have some sort of bias. No, nevermind all of the evidence tying the Conservatives to these calls, like the cell phones bought by their staffers, the cheques that went to robocall companies, and simply their obnoxious attitude towards the idea of a stolen election, NOOOOO the Council of Canadians is just a bunch of blithering sore losers with nothing better to do than stop Harper's Holy Crusade to "save" Canada.

Further south, former Tea Party presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann recently set off a firestorm, when she claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood has somehow infiltrated the State Department, up to the highest levels (and apparently endangered the life of Secretary Hilary Clinton, when she visited Egypt soon afterwards). Leaving aside that a statement like this, is almost like saying that a Klansman can blend into Nigeria, this gross act of slander and borderline treason has actually earned the ire of other Republicans. Even John McCain and Chris Christie -- two staunch conservatives, these days -- are saying that she's basically lost her mind.

You know it's funny, this time last year I almost took up drinking, because I thought that North America was really going to be destroyed by these lunatics and psychopaths, but every time I turn around it looks like they're just imploding.

THERE IS A GOD!

November's Morons of the Month

Please note: because of the Douchebag of the Year being announced next month, this will be the final 2011 "Moron" segment that covers an entire calendar month.

• Pennsylvania State University's Football Staff for apparently covering up severe child molestation, for several years, only for it to come out this month.


• Various Christian conservative groups (the most recent being the Hamilton Family Action Council) for crying that promoting tolerance of queer youth is a form of suppression, yet themselves promoting the kind of bigotry and violence that drives such youth to suicide.


• Mariah Yeater for falsely claiming (according to her friends and family) that pop singer Justin Bieber is the father of her baby, and demanding a DNA test in court.


• Herman Cain, his wife, and his fans for claiming that the sexual harassment claims against him are all false... even though there's no dispute that he paid multiple settlements to the women he allegedly preyed on.


• Republican Wingnuts for celebrating Halloween, with a graphic poster of a zombified Barack Obama, with a bullet wound in his head (particularly because similarly tasteless images probably sparked the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her supporters).


• The State of Michigan's Republican Government for legalizing any bullying/violence that is excused by the perpetrator's religion, which effectively legalizes the bullying of gay/Muslim/Jewish/atheist/pagan schoolchildren, and possibly legalizes religious terrorist groups.


• Stephen Harper's supporters for continuing to excuse a government that was convicted of election fraud, this month, and quietly admitted that it won't be able to keep its budget promises.


• Kim Kardashian for her crass dumping of husband Kris Humphries, barely two months after marrying him in an overblown ceremony that was broadcast for reality TV.


• The Duggar Family for keeping up their dangerous and disturbing circus-freak act, by having their 20th child.


• The State of California for continuing to slap Lindsay Lohan on the wrist... with a feather boa.


• Google/YouTube for "upgrading" the site to such an extent that no one without Chrome can upload a video, or leave messages anymore.


• Comic book artist Frank Miller -- himself barely employed, anymore -- for comparing the Occupy movement to RAPISTS. And if you're wondering, some of his more famous work, has actually attacked corrupt policemen, politicians, and the super-rich, so this is hypocritical in truly epic ways.


• Various conservative nutjobs who see nothing wrong with unarmed and occasionally frail Occupy protesters being pepper-sprayed and beaten by the cops, for no reason, yet refer to the movement itself as a bunch of criminals.


• The City of Halifax for forcibly evicting the local Occupy camp, during Remembrance Day ceremonies that commend the people who DIED to preserve our freedom of speech.


• Governor Mitt Romney for deliberately and shamelessly lying about Barack Obama in his latest campaign ad, by attributing to him a bad economic quote that actually came from John McCain.


• Every last person who made the "Twilight" books and films, and is obsessively devoted to it for creating, distributing, buying, and worshipping a sub-standard, morally appalling series that promotes sociopathic attitudes towards relationships, and glorifies teenage girls being sexually, emotionally, and physically abused by older and stronger men.

The Right Wing's Reaction to Norway

While most of us have been civilized enough to be disgusted by last week's terrorist attack in Norway -- and the chilling manifesto that the killer has been allowed to put on the public, though it -- there is also a not-insignificant amount hardline conservatives who reject all suggestion that he did anything wrong.

For instance, Open Diary user Watcher of Freedom (one of many conservatives who already post tons of Anti-Muslim articles) actually made a comment that the shooting will be used as a propaganda tool for liberals. On Yahoo News alone, there are TONS of users who blame the murdered children for this attack, and are calling this sick fucker a world-wide hero!

THIS INCLUDES GLENN BECK, WHO COMPARED THE DEAD CHILDREN TO NAZIS!

...

...

...Let me explain this to you.

The Norway bomber/shooter murdered over seventy people -- including kids at a day camp -- just because they don't hate Muslims. He -- and those who support him -- want to spark a revolution against Muslims, who have immigrated to the West; a final solution, if you will. Some of them -- including the shooter -- have gone so far as to create a militia, to accomplish this. Hell, the shooter -- who openly admits to what he did, but sees nothing wrong with mass murder, by the way -- actually wrote a 1,500 page manifesto about why Muslims and the people who accept them, should be wiped out!

And yet -- according to far-right wing nutbars and their apologists -- it's not THESE PEOPLE who are like the Nazis, but people who are non-violent, care about the people around them, and don't think that the greatest threat to any nation is that there are more brown people living in it than there were twenty years ago.

I'm just going to come out and say this: if you don't see why this is utterly absurd and appalling, don't get within three feet of me.

Because that's how far I can punch.

Thinking of Norway

As we all know by now, Norway was bombed and shot up yesterday, in related attacks that have so far killed over 90 people (as of this writing). At this time, a suspect is in custody, who is known to have had extreme right-wing views... and contrary to what Sun News and the various Murdoch propaganda machines have claimed, this man is NOT a Muslim, but a Norwegian-born Christian.

I'm honestly not sure what to feel more appalled by; the loss of life on its own, or the fact that various conservative bigots are STILL blaming this on Muslims and liberals.

I hesitated to put this article up so soon after the attack, but this really has to be said: THAT IS ONE OF THE STUPIDEST THINGS I'VE EVER READ. There is ironclad proof that a man who allegedly spent hours murdering indiscriminate innocents -- including children -- is a conservative extremist, with an axe to grind against Muslims. Yet rather than actually obey basic sense, these assholes ONCE AGAIN give in to base instincts and sheer hatred, and BLAME ANYONE BUT THEMSELVES.

In fact if you read the comments to this article, you will find a user named "Viktor" (and others) saying that the kids got what they deserved, because they were non-white and in a left-wing event.

...I have no further words for that -- at least, none that wouldn't make me fall prey to the same blind hate that these people thrive on.

OUR THOUGHTS ARE WITH NORWAY.

Charles McVety the Stooge

Oh, HAPPY HAPPY DAY.

While this is old-ish news to some of my fans, I just discovered today that "Reverend" Charles McVety had his TV show canceled, earlier this month. For those who don't know, McVety is basically Canada's answer to Pat Robertson: an overzealous bigot, claiming to be devoutly Christian, who often tells lies to attack anyone who isn't a straight, white, God-fearing conservative Christian (hence why he was voted the Dishonurable Mention in the 2010 Douchebag of the Year awards).

Anyway, what started all of this is that back in December, he said on Word TV that (among other things) gay pride parades are sex festivals that promote pedophilia. Needless to say, this is not true -- and someone complained to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, seeing as this is against their rules. The Council agreed, and the show was suspended for a couple of days.

Of course, McVety and his supporters have claimed that this was political persecution, despite providing no evidence whatsoever that their claims about homosexuals and transgendered people are correct.

Several weeks later, the television station in question (Crossroads Television) -- a right-wing Christian station, believe it or not -- announced that Word TV would be removed permanently from their schedule, because McVety refused to change his behaviour. Sure enough, McVety is ONCE AGAIN claiming to be persecuted, and is suing his former employers.

Charles, maybe no-one ever explained it to you, but when you play a particular game, you're supposed to follow the rules. You clearly are not. You are going to lose.

(and besides, McVety is in a hell of a place to complain about being censored, given some of his previous crusades)

Of course, McVety STILL isn't getting the message -- just this morning (Feb. 8, 2011), he was on AM 640 (a Toronto talk radio station), crying that the sky is going to fall, because the Harper government is considering recognizing the legal rights of transgendered people. Admittedly, this is rather surprising, given that Harper tends to obey social bigots like McVety all the time, but anyway... What's McVety's main concern? Well, other than claiming that (like gay marriage) this will destroy society and pave the way for legalized pedophilia (um, right...), he's concerned about his daughter showering with what is technically a man, at the gym or pool.

As I've already stated, I would hope that any transgendered woman showering around a child would have the courtesy to show SOME modesty around them. In any case, he would appear to either not know or not care, that there are plenty of female sex offenders in North America (you could pretty much flip a coin, to determine which it is). Besides, how does McVety know that his daughter is any more comfortable with showering around strange women? Or, for that matter, that she's comfortable with Dear Old Daddy dragging her into his crusades (and thereby involuntarily putting the mental image of his showering daughter into the public consciousness).

If there is a God, this guy's time has come and gone, and before very long he personally will be gone forever.

Transgender Kerfuffle

Burning the Qu'ran (reprise)

The Ground Zero Mosque

RIP Dr. Laura -- Wait, she's still alive? DAMMIT!

So right-wing radio nut/fake psychiatrist Dr. Laura Schlessinger is quitting her controversial show, because she wants to be free to express her First Amendment rights, without retaliation from the people she offends, advertisers, or the FCC. Evidently, this is in response to her latest bigoted tirade, where she repeatedly referred to black people as n***ers and -- SHOCK! -- people were outraged over it.

(jeez what took them so long?)

First of all, I'm glad she's finally gone -- it couldn't happen to anyone more deserving. Well, except maybe for Charles McVety, the Westboro Baptist Church, the National Organization for Marriage, and pretty much everyone who's worked for Fox News. Oh, and Stephen Harper, but that's a different matter.

Second, before any neo-cons out there get up my ass about free speech, I suggest you take a look at broadcasting laws in your country. In Canada, in addition to our hate speech laws, we have the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. America has the oft-maligned Federal Communications Commission. While both policies -- and their enforcers -- have their occasional problems and brain farts, they are nonetheless the law of the land when it comes to what you can have on public airwaves. Frankly, anyone who's ever been near the broadcasting industry knows that there are certain words you are not allowed to say on the air -- Professor George Carlin did some seminal work on this subject in the 1970s. This is especially wise, when some of those words are used by various bigots and supremacists in their rants to call for the deaths of everyone who isn't a straight white Judeo-Christian (and sometimes it's even more narrow than that).

Third, if Schlessinger really wants to find a place that frees her to spread her bile, she's going to have her work cut out for her. I doubt that any other mainstream outlet will want her, because she's a defamation lawsuit/huge FCC fine waiting to happen, she clearly hates about half of the country, and isn't above using foul language and slurs to say so. The FCC even has some involvement in Internet regulation, which limits her options there as well (plus that's assuming the best case scenario for her, that she's able to set up her own web site and video streaming service -- after all, YouTube, BlipTV and most other video sites forbid her kind of dreck too).

So I guess that limits her to private functions with the KKK, Aryan Brotherhood, and Republican Party. Well, at least that would be honest as well as open.

Ezra Levant vs. Free Speech

As anyone following the "Ann Coulter in Canada" farce knows, her primary supporter in the Great White North is a conservative commentator named Ezra Levant. He's mostly known as an exile from the Conservative Party, as well as defending his "right" to reprint the inflammatory cartoons depicting Muhammed the Prophet as a terrorist.

When the provost of the University of Ottawa politely but firmly reminded Ann Coulter, that her usual hate rhetoric is illegal here, Levant was one of those accusing the provost of hate speech himself -- just because Coulter is a conservative -- and has filed a complaint to the Human Rights Commission, despite the fact that the hates its very existence. Sensing hypocrisy yet?

Anyway, a short time ago, an amateur stand-up comic in British Columbia was taken to that province's HRC, for yelling at a lesbian couple that was talking during his act (and if you didn't already guess, it's alleged that he used homophobic slurs). Levant, you guessed it, says that this isn't an issue, and the case has no merit.

So let's recap: it's okay to print sacrilegious and racist cartoons of Muslims (I know he says it's about free speech, but when he prints a cartoon depicting Moses or Jesus in the same light, then I'll buy that claim); it's okay to scream slurs at a lesbian couple in a public place; but God forbid that you remind a hatemonger, that we don't take kindly to her saying things like "we should kill all Muslim leaders and force the people to convert to Christianity", or "Canada's lucky we allow them to exist on our continent".

When this chucklehead comes to the HRC, defending America's answer to Osama bin Laden, I hope they throw him out on his ass.

Bye bye, Ann Coulter, we won't miss you.

THANK FREAKING GOD, ANN COULTER'S BEING KICKED OFF OF CANADIAN SCHOOLS!

So right-wing propagandaist and Neo-Nazi, Ann Coulter, is cancelling some of her stops on her speaking tour of Canadian universities. Contrary to what Coulter and her followers are claiming, this is not because the schools are clamping down on conservatives. No, it's because the STUDENTS THEMSELVES do not welcome racist fanatics that have the same amount of class as a used tampon.

Frankly, I don't understand why this woman was even INVITED to Canadian schools, given that she said we should be invaded and wiped out, just for living on the same continent as America, but that's a different issue.

Evidently, she took issue with a University of Ottawa teacher informing her that much of her usual bile, is considered hate speech, and she would be wise to clean up some of her language if she doesn't want to get arrested in Canada. Once again, this is not an attack on conservatives, unless conservatives are actually admitting now that a lot of them embrace the attitudes of Adolf Hitler and the KKK.

Kiss my ass, Coulter. You won't be missed.

Maine Homophobes II

Is it just me, or is the so-called "Moral Majority" not even trying to look respectable or rational anymore? Just a couple of days after I posted my rant about Maine voting to revoke same-sex marriage, this prick called JarodysCampaign -- who lost an election for city councillor down there -- said to me that the definition of marriage MUST be "one man and one woman", that the gay camp was the only one that made it a rights issue, that being gay is a choice... you know, the usual horseshit. And if you think I'm going to just let this be, you clearly haven't seen the show.

Let's start with this business about the definition of marriage "clearly" being between one man and one woman... well, according to who? Depending on which religion or denomination or culture you ask, marriage can be defined as all sorts of combinations of human, not all of them simply one man and one woman. In fact, in ancient times same-sex marriage was quite common, not that the Christian Right will ever acknowledge it, because it requires them to read a book not endorsed by The 700 Club. Jarody's argument that he's helped restore the "original" form is also very dubious, when you consider that the original form not only forbade marrying outside of your race or religion, but by and large women had no choice in who they were going to marry -- AND more often than not, it was done as little more than a business deal. Not to mention it was not only common but expected, that the husband would keep a mistress -- NOT THAT KIND OF MISTRESS! Thank you... The point is, marrying out of love is a fairly new phenomenon, despite what the so-called family values clan says. If anyone out there doesn't believe me, I suggest that you go to a very special building in your town: it's called a library.

Oh and I'd be neglegent if I didn't point out there are parts of The Bible -- like Deuteronomy 21 -- that say it's totally fine for a man to force a woman to marry him, as a sort of war trophy. I'd also be sloppy if I didn't point out that it was totally normal for marriages to happen at age 12, in those days. Wow, how loving and godly.

Incidentally, this same man also claimed that by criticizing a clearly discriminatory point of view like his, I'm being a Constitutional Revisionist. Really? Does that mean he also thinks that mixed marriage, decriminalized homosexuality, women's rights, desegregation, and even the separation of church and state should all be revoked? What about the partonizingly named "Defense of Marriage Act", which only exists to discriminate against gays? By the way, I just love how a guy like him shuts down critics by saying that he won't talk to people who are intolerant -- that's like a Neo-Nazi slamming people who have issues with swastikas.

He's also one of those who dismisses gays as a whole, by saying that being gay is a choice. Um yeah, do you ever notice how you almost always hear this bullshit from people who have either never had a non-judgemental talk with a homosexual, or never willingly talked to one at all? Now I know that science isn't entirely sure what does cause homosexuality, but there are a couple of things that are certain. One is that since it's found in animals all the time, that pretty much destroys any argument that it is unnatural. The second is that there is NO evidence whatsoever, that people actually choose to be gay.

Furthermore, at the risk of ripping off David Cross, try actually thinking this attitude through a little. Even in this supposedly enlightened part of the world, if anyone even THINKS you're gay, then no matter how young or old you are, you are going to be harrassed, assaulted, singled-out, discriminated against, raped, or murdered solely because of what gender you're supposedly attracted to. Not only that, but you can't count on The Powers That Be to do anything about it -- they may ignore your troubles, or simply say you got what you deserved. This includes many of the supposedly moral and upstanding people in the church. Wow, that really sounds like a life I'd want to live.

By the way, don't even get me started on the arguments that "You support gay marriage, so you must be gay", or "What did the Christian Right take away?" Seriously, do you idiots not hear yourselves talk? Do you really not understand how stupid you sound?

The cold-bloodedness and hypocrisy of the "traditional values" people never ceases to amaze me. They call themselves devout Christians more often than not, but even I know that Jesus said to let what is the government's, belong to the government. Kind of like He also said to judge not, lest ye be judged, to live a non-capitalist life, and to live as a community -- not that the Moral Majority likes to hear any of those things either. And let's not forget, they called the same-sex laws in Maine undemocratic, even though they were voted in freely by the elected senate. It seems really convenient to me, that of all the things they could get nitpicky about in politics, it's things that give rights to people they despise for no good reason. I bet you they'd never go to this much trouble, if the same senate declared that only conservative Christians be allowed to vote. Enough said.