Residential school gravesites news conference vid

Commenter "FRD" (of hiddenfromhistory.org) left a link to this video of the news conference where the investigation and locations of schoolchildrens' mass graves were announced:



They are desperately trying to give this issue some traction. Let's help.

Maher under seige!

After Bill Maher's extremely un-PC but also extremely funny (and extremely true) remarks about the Pope's visit last week, Wingnuttia resounded with the sound of exploding heads. The Catholic League's perpetually-outraged Bill Donohue, who's always up for demanding an apology from someone or other for some slight or other, real or imagined, angrily put Maher back on his shit-list for the umpteenth time. Maher capitulated in his own little way and apologized for calling the Pope a Nazi (hahahahaha!), but went on to point out the cold hard truth that any CEO heading an institution of child molesters would probably be fired.

"Fired!?" thundered the "American Life League", grabbing its collective crotch, "We got yer 'fired' right here, Maher!":

"FIRE BILL MAHER!"

"Bill Maher slanderously attacked the pope and Catholics everywhere, and for that he MUST be fired!
- He lied when he called Pope Benedict XVI a “Nazi.”
- He lied about Pope Benedict coordinating a cover-up."

The campaign to silence Bill Maher has begun with a website set up for the express purpose of getting everyone on board with the Fire Bill Maher! Project. Talk about offensive! Why don't these people know how to design a website? But entertainingly, there's a petition with comments:

Mahers continual crude and ignorant bashing of Catholics is not comedy its hate Either he goes or my subscription goes ("Its" called "punctuation" and "its" really cool; try it sometime.)

Bill Maher is a sick twisted liberal He is evil (If "sick twisted and evil" describes a talk show host, what superlatives describe child sexual abusers and their enablers?)

his words hurt Jesus (But pedophile priests only hurt little kids, so that's okay.)

Pray for Mr Maher that he be healed and set free in Peace from what wounds him (The gloves are off -- a Full-Scale Prayer Assault!)

Bigotry is not humor or free speech (You might want to remind your cousins in North Wingnuttia of that little factoid.)

Fire Bill Maher for his hate speech (Bigotry for me, but not for thee.)

i could not find anything to compare maher with except to a piece of excrement a living example of a degenetated low life it ("Degenetated"? That's a keeper.)

And finally...

Pray for Bill Maher he is so lost

Aside from punctuation, conspicuously absent amid the outrage and piousness is any comment on the harsh ugly truth of Maher's remarks -- that the Catholic church knowingly enabled vicious pedophile priests to continue abusing children through a systemic cover-up operation. Any institution that engages in something so heinous has permanently lost its right to be outraged about any volley of criticism fired its way.

But never mind that -- helmet on and head down, Bill -- you've got INcoming! And the Coalition of the Swilling is at your service if you need us!

Maher on the Pope

Speaking truth to Popery:

A serious note

Something everyone needs to see, if you haven't already, is the list of locations of mass graves of residential schoolchildren that was made public earlier this week -- stageleft published it.

To be honest, I was so shocked and so disturbed by the magnitude of this list that it took me a few read-overs to fully absorb it. The number of victims, the fact that they were kids, little kids, the causes of some of their deaths, the complete disrespect in their final resting places left hidden and uncared for to conceal the crimes that killed them... all so unbelievably horrific.

When confronted with such horrors, it's human nature to automatically try and turn away as a kind of defense mechanism. But that's how things like residential school atrocities went on -- because it was so much easier not to confront the ugliness and one's own part in it, however distant. The list of mass graves makes it impossible not to do so, which is why it's so important to read it, read it slowly and carefully and let it sink in, read it 3 or 4 times if you have to. Read it and weep, literally. Then let the grief become resolve to work towards better understanding.

Disgusting

From HuffPost, here's 60 seconds of sickness. This is a video clip from a kiddy beauty pageant that ran on VH1 last week. What the fuck are these kids' parents thinking??!?

Something's not right here

Last week, Dr. Dawg and April Reign both blogged about an injustice so horrific it's almost surreal. It's the recent case of a little 4-year-old girl in Edmonton whose "mother" (allow me to use "scare quotes", they're quite suitable in this case) allowed her partner to put her daughter through unspeakable torture, physical and sexual abuse, only to ultimately get a slap on the wrist of a "sentence" that may not even be worthy of being called a "slap on the wrist". The "mother" got off scot-free with a 2-year "conditional sentence"; her partner got only 8 years, meaning he'll very likely be out in 3.

So to recap: A little girl whose life has been ravaged, who'll take years to recover from the trauma if she recovers at all. Her best case scenario is that the horror of what she endured will haunt her forever; one can only imagine the possibilities of how it might drive her life. Then there's the people responsible for this, serving a grand total of 3 years in prison between them. Hard to believe, isn't it?

I'm not an authoritarian and don't believe in prison terms just for the sake of punishment -- if we have to put people in jail, I'd rather use it as a rehabilitative opportunity. We as a society shouldn't be paying to punish criminals, we should be paying to turn them back into functional members of society.

But there are people who, for whatever reason, are hardwired without those qualities that make the rest of us able to co-exist in society, no matter how different our values. There are people who are so sick with lack of conscience, so utterly bereft of remorse for their wrongdoings, that they need to be kept away from the rest of us. The people who so violently betrayed the trust of this little girl are a prime example. And they will re-offend -- it's not in them to see any reason why they shouldn't.

This ludicrous and appalling sentence is an insult to a little girl who's already borne every kind of physical and emotional insult possible. It's an insult to anyone who believes in justice. It can't be allowed to stand. The Crown Prosecutor is appealing the conditional sentence given to the mother; her partner's sentence must also be appealed.

Please send your (polite) thoughts to the Crown Prosecutor on this case, information as follows:

Shelley Bykewich, Crown Prosecutor
Crown Prosecutors Justice and Attorney General
6th fl John E Brownlee Building
10365 - 97 Street
Edmonton, AB T5J 3W7

Phone: 780 422-1111
Fax: 780 422-9756
E-mail: shelley.bykewich@gov.ab.ca