Chick fil-A =/= Free Speech

To the Christian Right and Teabaggers... Let me explain something.

Criticizing a little-known fast-food chain, because they decided to publicly smear gay Americans for wanting to be treated like human beings, is not attacking their free speech. Besides, it didn't stop your camp from attacking JC Penny, The Muppets, Ellen Degeneres, EA Games, etc. for being PRO-gay rights.

What the Chick-Fil-A CEO and Republicans are doing, is absolutely no different from what bigots in the 1960s and 70s were doing, to protest the end of segregation, and then interracial marriage. It's also no less wrong.

This isn't a free speech issue, this is a human rights issue. Especially since this is a company that has a history of endorsing laws that seek to murder homosexuals. It also has a long history of sexist and racist behaviour towards its own staff.

That is not right, no matter how you try to sweep it under the rug. America is supposed to stand for EVERYONE'S freedom. That's the very point of the Constitution. As soon as you start saying that only the "right" people deserve to be considered human beings, you're exactly the same as slave owners, religious fanatics, and the worst mass murderers in human history.

All that you have done, is show the world just how bigoted you really are. And maybe you haven't noticed, but it's not being accepted, as much as you think it is.

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!

Rush Limbaugh vs. The Dark Knight Rises

...Ok, what in the fuck??

Conservatives aren't even trying, anymore. Rush Limbaugh has come out attacking THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (opening this Friday), claiming that -- because the villain is named Bane -- it is Democrat propaganda, aimed at smearing Mitt Romney.

We'll leave aside for a moment, that Romney's refusal to disclose his tax records, and his deception for how long he was at Bain & Company, are well-known facts -- and hammering Romney over them is not in any way shape or form, a campaign of hate-mongering lies. Limbaugh's claim is so fucking ridiculous that it shows why he's hemorrhaging listeners more and more every day.

For one thing, Romney's time at Bain wasn't even controversial, until about a week ago -- WHEN THE MOVIE WAS COMPLETELY FINISHED. For those of you who weren't following TDKR's development, the idea to use Bane as the villain, came about TWO YEARS AGO, and was immediately made public. Furthermore, Bane wasn't even invented for this film; as any Batman fan knows, the character first appeared in 1993 (and in fact has appeared on the big-screen before, in 1997's infamous Batman & Robin). Despite being relegated into a mindless thug in the latter film, the character has always been very popular, making him a logical choice for inclusion in The Dark Knight Rises.

Therefore, in order for Limbaugh's conspiracy theory to have ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER, not only would someone in the Obama White House had to have tipped off Christopher Nolan et al, that A) Mitt Romney was going to be the Republican presidential candidate, and that B) they were going to hammer him over his business history, LONG BEFORE ROMNEY WAS EVEN CONSIDERED AS A NOMINEE... but Obama would have had to somehow influence DC Comics about this decision JUST AS ROMNEY WAS ENTERING POLITICS AT ALL. AND have the incredible precision to have this major Hollywood movie come out at the exact moment that the shit had hit the fan, over the scandal.

So either Rush Limbaugh and his handlers think that his fans are the stupidest human beings on the planet, or the man himself has completely lost his mind. I'll leave it to you, to decide which it is.

Harper Covered Up Torture

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Canada's Military Police Complaints Commission came out with a report, this week, that cleared Canadian soldiers of knowing about -- or willingly being involved in -- our Afghan war prisoners being tortured, by local authorities. However, to the surprise of absolutely no one with a brain, the report also found that the Harper Conservative government blocked all attempts to get to the bottom of this war crime.

I know that remembering every political debacle from two and a half years ago, can be tricky, so I'll remind everyone of the highlights. When one of Canada's most respected diplomats, Richard Colvin, first reported on our war prisoners being beaten and mutilated -- something that is AN INTERNATIONAL FELONY -- the Harper government not only claimed to know nothing about it, but they personally attacked anyone who so much as brought it up. Liberal and NDP Members of Parliament, their supporters, or even just conscious members of the press WERE ALL CALLED TRAITORS FOR ASKING ABOUT THIS. The uproar became so massive, that Stephen Harper managed to trick the Governor General into shutting down Parliament, specifically to abort the investigation into what exactly the government really knew.

So not only did our government -- a government under investigation for stuffing the ballot box, by the way -- COVER UP WAR CRIMES, but they went to McCarthyist and fascist extremes, to shut down any discussion of it, so much so that it has done permanent damage to the unity of this country. That's not even getting into our international respect going down the toilet, more and more every day.

True to form, if one just goes to the comment page of the first article I linked this blog to, they will find no shortage of Conservative trolls, claiming that -- for some reason -- this shows that the NDP and Liberals owe our soldiers an apology. Leaving aside that AT NO POINT WERE OUR SOLDIERS BEING ACCUSED OF ANYTHING -- and the sheer ignorance of what the article was saying, makes me think the Darwin Awards missed a few people -- I can't help but notice that the phrasing of all of those remarks is almost exactly the same. So not only are Harper's opponents being proven right about him being a monstrous, criminal, hatemongering douchebag, but this says to me that there may be some truth to the CTV claims of Harper's trolls only being there because they're paid to do it.

So while I suspect I know how this will go... if any Conservatives would wish to apologize for being so blatantly WRONG, I am willing to listen. My recently-shaved hair might be down to my ankles, by the time it comes, but I'm willing to listen.

God Help Our Land -- Once Glorious and Free

My Right to Live or Die

I'm warning you all up front: this is about human euthanasia. It's fine if you are uncomfortable with that and want to say so, but any and all abusive comments WILL BE DELETED AND WILL RESULT IN YOU BEING BLOCKED. If you are incapable of an adult discussion, turn away now.

As you might have heard, the British Columbia Supreme Court has deemed Canada's anti-euthanasia laws unconstitutional, because they infringe on our right to liberty. So the federal government has one year, to update the law into something that would pass a Charter smell test. This was brought about by ALS patient Gloria Taylor, who is effectively paraplegic and dependent on a feeding tube. This is the culmination of an all-too-regular argument in Canada, that never really goes anywhere, despite widespread national support for the right of Canadians to decide for themselves when and how to die, in a situation like Taylor's. That's because, for obvious reasons, it's seen as a political hornet's nest.

There are a few different concerns, about legalizing what is often -- but somewhat inaccurately -- called "doctor-assisted suicide". Some of them are more rational than others, but because this is a delicate issue, even I will resist the urge to rip into various political and religious conservatives who invariably stick their noses into this. However, I will point out that the argument of "interfering in God's Plan" is more than a little dubious, coming from people who wish to hook you up to breathing tubes, when you're incapable of breathing on your own (and, by implication, being ordained to die, if you believe in such things).

One of the more valid ones, is the concern that this will lead to the elderly and disabled being "put down" by overzealous doctors. I would suggest that the way to prevent that, is rather obvious: make it the law to just assume a patient wants to be kept alive, unless they fill out a form -- with co-signers -- that says they wish to be euthanized. In principle, it would be the same as a Do Not Resuscitate form, which seems to work just fine for most people. Coupled with the fact that various regions around the world, with legalized euthanasia, show no evidence of major problems, it seems to me that the "abuse of process" argument is pretty well debunked.

With that out of the way, I think that "right to die" legislation MUST be legalized, for a very clear reason. It's the same reason why, despite personal misgivings about abortion, I will always be pro-choice: 99.9% of the time, none of us has a stake in the matter. If -- Heaven forbid -- I ever get a woman pregnant, or any daughter I have becomes pregnant while underage, THEN I would have a legitimate say in whether or not the pregnancy is aborted... AND THAT'S IT. The rest of the time, IT'S NONE OF MY BUSINESS. Should I ever find myself diagnosed with a terminal, lingering, and debilitating illness, the only people who really have a reason to keep me alive, are my girlfriend, my family, my closest friends, and finally myself. If you're none of those people, then I don't care what you have to say on my last wishes. They will not be listened to.

I'm not saying that I would rush to have a doctor put me to sleep, should I end up in that situation -- since I'm not bed-ridden, comatose, or on permanent pain-killers just to endure the day, I can't say for sure. However, I do know that the LAST thing I want, is to be hooked-up to life support, unresponsive, and incurable, just because some busy-body whom I've never even met has decided to interfere with my fate.

One of the few freedoms we seem to have left, is the basic right to control our own bodies. I have a REALLY big problem with the state or some church -- especially one that has shown no concern over my welfare, up to this point -- telling me that I belong to them UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. Whether you wish to be euthanized yourself, if the time comes, is up to you. But you should definitely be free to decide that for yourself.

Ezra Levant and Right Wing Hypocrisy

Canada's version of Glenn Beck, is a former Harperite bigot named Ezra Levant. He may be most infamous for his re-printing of the infamous Mark Steyn Mohammud cartoons, that so incensed Muslims in Europe that it sparked a race war. He regularly loves to spread hate speech, cloaked in the fake sanctimony of free speech -- I say "Fake", because he openly despises and assaults anyone who questions far-right policy.

So naturally, he's one of the headline pundits on Sun News... for the couple of dozen people who actually care enough to watch it. Sure enough, he regularly causes trouble, and just recently lost it with the head of Chiquita Banana by telling him ON THE AIR to "have sex with his mother". Granted, it was in Spanish, but enough viewers understood the obscenity to complain to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, who slammed Levant and Sun News for airing the vulgarity.

True to form, Sun News has so far not apologized in any form, and Levant openly refuses to, calling it censorship of a private business (ignoring, as usual, that Sun News is subsidized by tax money). Now, the problem that the Northern Teabaggers refuse to get, is that the CBSC is AN INDUSTRY REGULATOR, not a part of the government -- which, let's be honest, would probably PRAISE what their propaganda people do, at all times. Furthermore, it's long been accepted that -- with very few exceptions -- YOU DO NOT SWEAR ON TELEVISION, especially towards a GUEST on one of your programs. Come to think of it, I wonder what these same mouth-breathers said, when Nipplegate caused the far-right to moan about the supposed lack-of-morality on our airwaves.

But I digress.

All of that is basically just back story. The main reason I'm writing about this, is because it's hardly the first time Ezra Levant has caused legal problems, over his big and unethical mouth. He has been sued MULTIPLE times, for libel, in his Sun Media newspaper columns -- and lost. In laymen's terms, he has been taken to the cleaners -- REPEATEDLY -- for LYING. Granted, I personally do not know what kind of flak his employers received, for those messes, but it's fair to say it wasn't something they wanted to deal with. And now, we have the same blundering idiot, endangering a multi-million dollar television network's broadcasting license -- and several people's jobs -- because he lacks the basic mental filter to act like an adult, with someone you invited to your workplace.

To be blunt, if I ever spoke like that, to someone in any job I have ever held, I would be immediately fired. If I were a big-wig at Quebecor (Sun Media's parent company), I would kick Levant's ass to the curb, not only because he's unprofessional as hell, but because HE COULD GET ME SHUT DOWN. Yet as of this writing, Levant is still employed with Sun Media. I can only assume, that it's because he generates controversy -- in other words, he's paid to be a troll. I know that people like this, completely lack a moral core, so I won't bother arguing with them about what such a disgusting association says about them. However, maybe they will finally get the message, when the CRTC looks at this complaint in a few years -- and Levant's response to it -- and decides that Sun News has no place on the air.

Review of 'Prometheus'

I just saw Prometheus, on opening night, and I want to get my thoughts on proverbial paper while it's still fresh. Right off the bat, I need to get one thing cleared up: to hell with what the creative team says, this IS an Alien prequel... though in the sense that Knights of the Old Republic is a prequel to Star Wars; rather than directly linking to the events of the original film, it sets in motion some of the events that will lead into it.

Set eighty years from now, the Weyland Company has decided to fund an expedition into the far reaches of space, led by Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her boyfriend Dr. Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green). Based on hieroglyphs from all over Earth, they've deduced that extra-terrestrials visited humans, in the earliest days of our civilization, and have been contracted the starship "Prometheus", to test that theory.

Along for the ride, are the prototype android David (Michael Fassbender) and Company executive Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), who are very skeptical of the whole enterprise, to put it mildly. The only reason why The Company has even invested the fortune needed for this mission, is because CEO Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) wants to meet his maker, in the final stages of his long life.

However, what the team finds, are that The Alien Engineers -- the Space Jockeys of the original film -- were far from the benevolent terraformers that they had hoped they were. Through various disturbing events, The Engineers' more elaborate creations attack and kill several crew members... and the sole survivor sets his sights straight on Earth.

To give the movie a lot of credit, the mystery is built of very well. While it becomes apparent fast, that The Engineers aren't exactly friendly, the movie takes its time to illustrate the specifics of this diabolical plan. And to be honest, if you thought the original aliens were horrifying, they may have some real rivals with the creatures shown in this prequel -- no joke, my friends and I gained about a week's worth of nightmare fuel, from this thing.

Ridley Scott has always been a director that's been great at finding upstanding actors and letting them do their best, and this film is no exception. All of the parts are wonderfully played, even if Fassbender and Pearce come a bit close to cartoonish super-villainy at times. Noomi Rapace came into the public eye as the ballbusting Lisabeth Salander, in the original Millenium Trilogy, and here she has more than shown herself to be a worthy successor to Sigourney Weaver's Ripley.

However, the main fault with Prometheus is a rather large one: it's one of those movies that asks a lot more questions than it answers (especially since the particulars of the Engineers' plan, are more than a little confusing). I don't doubt that Ridley Scott would claim that this was intentional, partly because of the promise of one or two sequels to come, but I still have problems with that because the general rule with what is basically the first movie in a new series, is that you have to make it solid enough to stand on its own. Considering that there's no guarantee that the planned trilogy will even remotely come to pass, you can see the problem: the creators may be setting up things that will never be paid off. And even if they do, there's no guarantee that it will be to the satisfaction of the fans (especially after all of the hype surrounding just this one).

According to myth, Prometheus is a god-like figure, who gave humans technology and allowed them to become the advanced race they became... but with all of the unanswered -- perhaps unanswerable -- conundrums brought up by the filmmakers, perhaps Pandora's Box will turn out to be a more appropriate title.