Desperation

Shorter GOP staffer: "That morally-bankrupt, thieving Democrat erased the tape from the bug we illicitly planted on his podium to catch any off-the-record gaffes he might make during a debate! Arrest him, officer!"

"Last week, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) squared off in a debate with Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford. But on Lunsford's podium a GOP operative had placed a small voice recorder, presumably to pick up some off-mic comments Lunsford might make -- apparently a violation of the debate rules.

(The recorder itself -- sans recording -- was eventually returned.)" [...]

"And now St. Onge and the chairman of McConnell's campaign have filed a criminal complaint against Lunsford for petty larceny and destruction of property -- because of the erasure." (emphasis smirkingly mine)

Isn't this a little like calling the cops to report that someone ripped off your drug stash?

And Mitch McConnell... Mitch McConnell... hmmm... Oh yes, that fine upstanding example of GOP values.

Having it both ways

Rob Breakenridge of the Calgary Herald is a little taken aback to discover what most of us have known all along, that the religious right isn't quite as committed to "free speech" as they like to pretend they are. Sure, they talk the "free speecher" talk, but when it comes to walking the walk, they have been weighed, they have been measured, and they have been found wanting:

"Given the number of instances where conservative Christians have been called to task and even prosecuted for their words -- Bishop Fred Henry, Rev. Stephen Boissoin, Hugh Owens, Catholic Insight magazine, the Christian Heritage Party -- it's not surprising to see the so-called "religious right" mobilize in support of freedom of expression." [...]

"However, the religious right needs to decide just how committed it is to freedom of expression. If you haven't the stomach for the fight, best to sit it out.

Last week, the aforementioned Canada Family Action Coalition demanded that the federal government step in and revoke the broadcast license of a new Canadian adult film channel. CFAC president Charles McVety describes the existence of Northern Peaks as being "to the public detriment" and fears the adult channel will "corrupt minds."

In other words, the approach of the CFAC on this issue of "offensive content" is really no different from the approach of the pro-censorship crowd on other matters of "offensive content."

Whereas supporters of human rights commissions believe we can engineer a society devoid of "hate," the anti-porn moralizers believe we can engineer a society devoid of "immorality.""

Hypocrisy: it's what's for dinner.

Don't stop there...

In Australia for the World Youth shindig, once again the Pope has issued another overweening apology for the evil sex abuse perpetrated by, well, who else!?:

"Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday offered his strongest public statement yet on sex abuse against minors by Roman Catholic priests, apologizing to victims and calling the abuse "evil."

The apology came during a mass in Sydney, Australia, and expands on comments the pope made during an April visit to the United States, during which he publicly acknowledged the pain the church's sex abuse scandal has caused and met privately with abuse victims."

Way to go popester, screw it on, baby! But forgive me if I'm less than impressed, given that the Catholic church's chief cook and bottle-washer was also one of the architects of the systemic cover-up of that same "evil". Res ipsa loquitur, Popie-honey-baby, it speaks for itself.

What's that? Oh boo hoo hoo! *slap*

Oh, the shame...

...the disgrace, the ignominy, the sullying of the Order of Canada's good name! It didn't take long for the pearl-clutchers to demand that other inductees return their Order of Canada citations in protest of Dr. Henry Morgentaler's induction on Canada Day. First up we have Catholic priest and OofC inductee Dr. Fr. Lucien Larre:

"A Catholic priest in British Columbia is returning his Order of Canada after Dr. Henry Morgentaler was named a member, calling the controversial abortion doctor's induction into the Order "a terrible mistake."

Father Lucien Larre, who was inducted into the nation's highest order in 1983 for his work with troubled youth, said in a news release yesterday that he felt "compelled in conscience to return my Order of Canada.""

Oh, yeah? And who is Dr. Fr. Lucien Larre? Well, here's one of his court dockets (and a more simplified version). He's a fairly well-known guy back in Saskatchewan:

"Larre himself is not immune to controversy.

He founded the Big Valley Jamboree in Craven, with all proceeds going toward his Bosco Homes.

In 1992, a Saskatchewan jury convicted him on two counts of physically abusing children in his care at Bosco Homes and acquitted him on nine other charges. Larre was sentenced to one day in jail and paid a $2,500 fine for one charge of common assault and one charge that he forced pills down the throat of a teenager to teach her a lesson about drug abuse."

Oh yeah! Are all these people depraved freaks? That's pretty good PR, having someone who beats children return his Order of Canada in protest. (Of course, had those children stayed in the womb, they might have been treated with a lot more respect.)

Censorship, hypocrisy and consistency

It's a scenario that plays out with depressing regularity: the religious right spins a bearing and gets all exercised and up in arms about a book, record or film and tries to get it banned, burned or blasted off the shelves of some library. There was a case a couple of years ago where Walmart was selling a book deemed "offensive" by fundies. There ensued a feverish campaign of bellowing, badgering and threatening until Walmart finally caved and stopped selling the book.

So... is this censorship? And further, can people who engage in such activity simultaneously claim to champion free speech? There's an interesting discussion on this topic at Dr. Dawg's place.

In my opinion, the campaign against the "Little Black Book" was absolutely censorship. Walmart is a private business, and their buyers chose to carry the book. Those who were offended by it had the choice to ignore it and not buy it. If the book was really that offensive, all of Walmart's customers would have made the same choice and eventually the "invisible hand" would have removed it from the shelves.

But instead of exercising their freedom to ignore and letting the vagaries of the free market take care of the book, the fundies took it upon themselves to decide for everyone whether this book should be available at Walmart. When the state does that, we call it "censorship". I don't see how it's any less heinous when it's done by a private citizen or group. It's still someone else deciding for the rest of us what we should be able to read. Frankly I doubt I'd buy the book unless someone specifically asked me for it, but that's for me to decide -- I don't need some holy-rolling asshole deciding for me.

I agree with Dawg that the issue in this particular case is also hypocrisy and consistency: how on earth can anyone who engages in a campaign of censorship claim to be a proponent of free speech? It just proves what most of us have known all along -- to some people, the only "free speech" that counts is their free speech.

As if we needed more

In the wake of the mighty "The Pill Kills" protest going on today (although you wouldn't know it from the Canadian blogosphere), I thought it was timely to stumble over yet more proof that ersatz anti-choice concern for Teh Baybeez begins at conception and ends at birth:

"An anti-abortion group has broken up a deal between Planned Parenthood and Habitat for Humanity by blasting out 10,000 e-mails to Habitat supporters.

Planned Parenthood is building a 23,000-square-foot regional headquarters on Central Avenue, and planned to sell Habitat the land next door for a token $10 to build three below-market-cost houses. The deal benefited Planned Parenthood because the city required the clinic to put up buildings as a buffer between its parking lot and Cohen Way.

"We could have put up any building we wanted," said Barbara Zdravecky, president of Planned Parenthood. "We wanted to donate the land so Habitat could build more attainable housing."

But after Habitat donors learned about it and complained, Habitat International told the local board to drop it. The local Habitat board dropped the deal Tuesday night, less than a month before it was set for a final vote by the city."

And there you have it: affordable housing, which most likely would have provided homes to some underprivileged kids, deep-sixed by fetus fetishists because the property was generously donated (okay, sold -- for $10!) to Habitat by Planned Parenthood . And what nefarious zygoteers were behind it?

"The barrage of e-mails started with James Sedlak, vice president of the American Life League, a Virginia-based group that has led protests at Planned Parenthood offices in Sarasota. They said it showed a cozy relationship between Habitat and Planned Parenthood, which the league has accused of pushing pornography to children, among other things." (emphasis mine)

Well well, the American Life League, ovulation-obsessed fuckwits and proud sponsors of the "Pill Kills" protest, which implores us to "Think of the zygotes!!!" Fetus fetishists, protesting for those in utero and stiffing the rest.

UPDATE: April Reign was already all over this one.

You wouldn't be able to hear

over the shrieking, howling wingnuts if a lefty said something like this:

"At the National Press Club on Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney noted that his maternal grandmother is descended from someone named Cheney, then quipped, "So we had Cheneys on both sides of the family—and we don't even live in West Virginia."" (emphasis mine)

This has been another chapter of "It's OK if you're a Republican".

More equal than others

Well, it's been a few days since Tom Lukiwski rolled around whimpering and pissing himself on the House of Commons floor (the same floor that's riddled with trenches from the constant dragging of knuckles by the "A" guys). That seems to be the end of it -- Prime Minister Chubby McChubster says the apology was offered, so accept it, mothahfuckaaahs, and move on.

Oooooh. No consequences?

Where are the consequences conservatives are so quick to demand whenever someone makes a mistake... even one that doesn't involve maligning an entire community... something like, oh, I don't know, accidentally getting pregnant?

Or the consequences Saskatchewan First Nations are threatened with when one of their own barfs up some stupid, bigoted comments, apologizes and is reinstated in his position? (Whether you agree with FSIN's decision to reinstate Ahenakew is irrelevant -- it's their decision to make, and theirs alone.)

Well, that's apparently a little different: There Could Be Consequences for that decision, the Con-gov thunders -- big time consequences, affecting thousands of people. One couldn't be blamed if the "H-word" came to mind, as stageleft adroitly points out. (EDIT: Ahenakew ultimately declined the position, but the point is the government immediately went ballistic in one case, but did nothing in the other.)

But as Bruce also aptly explains, not all bigots are equal -- some are more equal than others.

And as knuckledragger apologist John West would say, "Don't even try to deny it".

Those family values rock

Religious right-wingnut hypocrisy: it's like an overflowing barrel of shit, there's so much of it you could be blindfolded and still be able to scoop up a shovelful. Hypocrite of the Day is "Miracle Channel" founder Dick Dewert, who resigned yesterday after admitting to, well, what else:

"CALGARY - The founder of Canada's first national Christian television network has resigned after admitting to an "extra-marital relationship."

Dick Dewert started the network in Lethbridge in 1995 with his wife, Joan, who has also resigned to "stand with her husband," a news release issued from the Miracle Channel said.

"We do not condone his behaviour," said Ray Block, who has been named CEO to replace Dewert."

Of course not! That's why we keep doing it. And doing it. And doing it. And coming back for more. There's got to be a reason why these people are so obsessed with all things sexual, publicly breathing fire and brimstone into every touch. I wonder what it could be.