Rules, Shmules: CONs Flout 'Em Again for Religious Pals

We know this: the Contempt Party of Canada breaks rules. Actually, more often they don't even acknowledge that there might be rules that apply to them or their pals.

The examples are legion, but here at DAMMIT JANET! we pay particular attention to transgressions relating to reproductive rights and/or religion (and it's drearily often "and," isn't it?).

Back in December, we reported that the Dominionist Association for Reformed Political Action got "special permission" to stage their garish little gasline flag stunt on Parliament Hill. (This MASSIVE event was intended to call attention to underground gaslines -- both male and female -- cruelly bunched together on a side lawn of Parliament Hill. Or something.)

Here's another more recent flouting of the rules, this time involving Jason Kenney, Patrick Brown, and Pakistani Christians, a key voter demographic, we assume.

A religious conference held earlier this month on Parliament Hill that featured Defence and Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney as a speaker appears to have breached the rules governing House of Commons facilities.

The Conference on Religious Freedom, organized by International Christian Voice, was held March 11 at 1 Wellington Street, a building with committee rooms that is part of the Parliamentary precinct.

Link to conference. Link to organization.

According to the rules, events may not include conferences, tickets may not be sold, and the sponsoring MP must be in attendance throughout the entire event.

The sponsoring MP was Patrick Brown, multitasking his job as MP with his campaign to lead the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.

This was clearly a conference, tickets were sold, but it's uncertain whether Brown took time out of his busy schedule to sit through the whole thing.

Because he was busy. Four tweets from March 11 informed followers of four events he attended that day, including the Pakistani Christian one.

And gee, guess what! Patrick Brown is also a double-plus-good fetus fetishist endorsed for PCPO leader by Campaign Lie, which is hedging its bet by also endorsing Monte McNaughton (Rob Ford's choice).

Here's another odd twist to the story.

According to the bylaws, applications for room use must be approved by the Sergeant-at-Arms in consultation with the party. The Sergeant-at-Arms position, however, has been vacant since Kevin Vickers left to become ambassador to Ireland.

We remember Kevin Vickers, don't we? The hero of the October Parliament Hill shooting -- part of the ostensible urgent need for the fascist Jihadi Terrorists Under Every Bed bill -- whisked off to his reward in the Emerald Isle before he could add any useful details to what actually happened that fateful -- for civil liberties in Canada -- day.

Patrick Brown did not deign to return the Ottawa Citizen's call for clarification but International Christian Voice's chairman said he was unaware that ticketed conferences were not allowed.

Who approved the event? Will anyone take responsibility for or try to explain the irregularity?

It's unclear whether any further investigation is underway.

In case you were wondering, besides Jason (The Virgin) Kenney, attendees included Andrew Bennet, Ambassador for Religious (Only If Christian) Pandering and former headmaster of a finishing school for home-skuled precious little souls, Don Meredith, ordained minister with some dodgy credentials and Conservative Senator, and Raymond de Souza, ubiquitous fetus fetishist who needs no introduction here. Bal Gosal, cited by Brown as co-sponsor, did not tweet that day aside from retweeting Brown's.

The (ongoing) lesson?

To paraphrase Leona Helmsley: "We CONservatives don't follow rules. Only the little people without important Christian and/or anti-choice connections follow rules."

Bait and Hate

On March 8 2015, International Women's Day, the Harper government's Minister for Defence and Multiculturalism tweeted this:

Journalist Glen McGregor caught the mendacious tweet and investigated whether the misleading images were duplicitously used.

An article in La Presse has an interview with a scholar based at l'UQUAM, regarding the authenticity and provenance of images used in Jason Kenney's tweet. He deplored the lack of rigour shown by this tweet as well as the misrepresentation of what the images actually portray: the dramatization of a religious historical event (much like Catholic Good Friday re-enactment) and the public recitation of Coranic verses.

The press secretary to Minister Kenney, who is also responsible for Multiculturalism in the Harper government, declined to respond directly to requests for clarification regarding the choice of photos.

"This type of question obscures the real issue: [Daesh/IS] is a threat to women and minorities; it is a genocidal terrorist organization, a threat to national and international security," wrote Lauren Armstrong in an email sent to The Canadian Press.

That photo in the upper right hand corner is a still shot from a short video that Karren Brown found:

Kenney's tweet implied that the tearful girl is a terrified child bride of a Wahhadi Daesh fighter.  She isn't.

Watch the video. The girl is competing in a contest of memorization of religious text.  Her head is not covered.  Her audience is composed of supportive community members who encourage her.

Though there are other religions who do justify potential endangerment and harm to children because ... their ideology rules. Three years ago we wrote about the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board and how it facilitated such activities.

Yes, it's April and those three boys are exposed to the elements.  The board has now removed the photos from its Brampton school's website (child pornography?) but Andrea Houston got a screen cap which she kindly provided.

Kenney is a fundamentalist Catholic. My co-blogger is very fond of this video of a young and rabidly zealous Jason.  He didn't complete his undergraduate program.  We suspect that the Jesuits were far too liberal for his proclivities.

Need we remind our readers, as well as befuddled Harper Cons, that the Catholic Church facilitated, tolerated and enabled mental, physical and sexual violence exerted against thousands and thousands of children for centuries.  In countries like Ireland, the Philippines and El Salvador, women are still struggling to cast off the oppressive control of the Vatican's misogynist ideology.  They have uncovered great injustices and loudly demanded accountability from the Church.

Nonetheless, Harper Cons are putting all their communication eggs into one basket: systematically deploying fear mongering tactics to incite hatred and fear of Muslims as they ramp up to a fall election campaign. Also: fundraising!!!

On Monday evening, the leader of the Liberal Party

[..]accused Harper's Conservative Party government of blurring the line "between a real security threat and simple prejudice." In particular, he criticized the decision of a judge in Quebec to refuse the case of a Muslim woman who wore a hijab to court, arguing that it was a "troubling trend that Mr. Harper seems keen to accelerate and exploit" and linking it to the Conservative government's proposed ban on the wearing of Islamic face veils during the oath of citizenship. 

Trudeau told his audience. "So we should all shudder to hear the same rhetoric that led to a 'none is too many' immigration policy toward Jews in the 30s and 40s, being used to raise fears against Muslims today."

On Tuesday Harper's dog-and-pony show continued in Parliament, as his Minister for Public Safety obliquely referenced Islam during his presentation on Bill C-51 in committee.  Blaney justified this, claiming that "hate speech" sows the seeds that culminate in horrific events like the Holocaust. He rambled on, even alluding to the mass slaughter of Tutsi by Hutu.

The minister compared jihadist declarations to Nazi propaganda, saying "the Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers, it began with words." 

"Violence starts with words," the minister repeated. "Hate begins with words. I can talk to you about the genocide in Rwanda that began on the radio."

He was taken to task by NDP MP Randall Garrison who suggested Blaney was trivializing the Shoah. Later, the minister's office denied that he had paraphrased verses from the Qur'an. 

Since we're on the topic of hate speech, biblical text are still used to justify violence against women. The actions demanded in Deutoronomy 22:21 that Gary Pearson partly cited above may no longer prevail in law, but they persist in the stigma attached to sex work and in the shaming of women who refuse to let their sexuality be controlled by religious ideology.

"then they are to take her out to the entrance of her father's house, where the men of her city are to stone her to death. She has done a shameful thing among our people by having intercourse before she was married, while she was still living in her father's house. In this way you will get rid of this evil."

None of this is happenstance. Ordinary secular political parties are not seized by urgent, totalitarian needs to foment ethnic fear and religious hatred against muslims in order to stay in power.  But a party that is in thrall to Evangelical christian religious fundamentalism and bankrolled by foreign interests, as Harper's CPC is, certainly would be. 

The last words belong to Jed Bartlet, _The West Wing_ fictional president inspired by Jimmy Carter with some daubs of JFK.

Deploying religious text to expose the ugliness of religious fundamentalism.

Of interest to those with no particular religious adherence: the word TERROR entered the political vocabulary during the French revolution as these events unfolded. A demonstration that any ideology, even anti-religious, can be used to justify violent government repression.  

UPDATE: The hoax photos that Kenney deployed misrepresent their original use. Taken from an anti-Muslim hate-inciting site. Thoroughly deconstructed here.

It's Baaaack: Unborn Victims Bill, C484

UPDATE: December 7, 2015
This old blog-post must have been linked to somewhere because it's getting some action in the comments recently. I published a couple as you can see and there are more.

But I've said what I said and have nothing to add. Discuss this elsewhere. I will publish no more comments.

******************************


Here we go again. Another brutal murder of a pregnant woman and people are again braying for vengeance.

Firefighters discovered [Cassandra] Kaake’s body Dec. 11 after she was murdered and mutilated. Kaake, 31, was seven months pregnant. She planned to call the baby Molly.

Police said Kaake died from blood loss caused by severe trauma. The killer also allegedly torched Kaake’s Benjamin Avenue home with her body inside.

Matthew Brush, 26, from LaSalle, is charged with break and enter, arson causing property damage, possession of incendiary material for arson, arson with disregard for human life, first-degree murder and indecent interference with a dead body.

If found guilty, I think it's pretty safe to say that this fella will have the book thrown at him, including a very harsh sentence based on Canada's sensible notion of aggravating circumstances.

From a 2007 Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada Position Paper on "Fetal Homicide" Law (pdf):

In Canada, the judicial system routinely takes aggravating circumstances into account. In the case of an assault or murder of a pregnant woman, even though a third party cannot be charged separately with harm to the fetus, prosecutors may recommend more serious charges (such as first degree murder or aggravated assault), judges may impose harsher penalties, and parole boards may deny parole to convicted perpetrators.

Perhaps we want a new law that codifies such practices. Thirteen U.S. states have laws that simply apply stiffer punishments for murdering a pregnant woman, but do not make the death of the fetus a separate crime. Such a solution would avoid the controversy about giving rights to fetuses or interfering with abortion rights, and would ensure that women do not lose their rights while they are pregnant.

No doubt this has been explained to the grieving family and friends, but is apparently not enough. A woman named Kim Badour started a petition to bring back Ken Epp's ill-fated private member's bill, C484.

The bill would have made it a criminal offence to cause harm to an unborn child during a crime against the mother. It passed second reading in the House of Commons but was later dropped. Badour wants to bring it back.

As the ARCC quote indicates, there are tons of problems with "fetal homicide" laws, however well-intentioned they are. (We do not believe that Epp and other fetus freaks were well-intentioned. We believe they were and are crass anti-choicers preying on the grief and outrage of bereaved families in order to bring in anti-abortion legislation by the infamous back door.)

So what does Official Fetus Freakdom have to say?

Perhaps surprisingly, it is quite clear-eyed and balanced (!!!!) in its response. First the obligatory whine.

[Mary-Ellen]Douglas [spokesperson for Campaign Life Coalition] hopes a pro-life MP will take up Bill C-484 but doesn’t give it much chance of passage. “Harper stopped it the first time,” she said, and there is no reason to believe he won’t do the same again.

But next, a pretty straight account of the other side.

The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) opposed Bill C-484 then and still does, seeing it as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. While it appeals to all concerned about violence against women, according to ARCC, it really targets women’s “reproductive rights.” ARCC’s Joyce Arthur told LifeSiteNews that 38 U.S. states (and the U.S. federal government) have passed unborn victims laws or other “fetal personhood” measures that have “resulted in hundreds of pregnant women with wanted pregnancies being arrested or prosecuted, or subjected to forced interventions, for behavior perceived as potentially harmful to the fetus.”

Arthur cites a study titled Arrests of and Forced Interventions on Pregnant Women in the United States, 1973–2005: Implications for Women’s Legal Status and Public Health, and further studies by the same researchers, Lynn Paltrow and Jeanne Flavin. They count 780 instances since 1973 (380 of them since 2005) of women jailed or institutionalized by the courts either to get them off drugs during their “wanted” pregnancy or on suspicion they deliberately caused themselves to miscarry, but sometimes when women merely resisted doctors’ wishes that they deliver by caesarean section. 

None of the laws used were intended to jail pregnant women, the researchers report, and about 10 percent of the arrests fell under unborn victims of crime laws.

The piece ends with another obligatory whining flourish.

Mary Ellen Douglas countered, however: “Joyce Arthur and her crowd will do anything to avoid talking about the 4 million unborn children that have been legally aborted in Canada. They can’t face that reality.”

Here's a link to the executive summary of the study Arthur cites. It is a chilling documentation of the criminalization of pregnancy in the US, resulting in arrests, trials, and imprisonment of mostly poor, vulnerable women.

Two recent examples show the gross injustice these laws enable, both cases targetting women of colour: Purvi Patel and Bei Bei Shuai.

But however tragic these cases are -- whether they involve murder, spousal abuse, sustance abuse, or mental health issues -- there will always be the opportunists.

Like Mike Schouten of We Need a Law (Like a Hole in the Head).

It is particularly rich that Schouten with his astroturf organization -- set up by Dominionist Association for Reformed Political Action to jump on "gendercide", or the alleged MASSIVE phenom in "certain" communities of aborting female fetuses -- would attach itself to a proposed law that would target poor, vulnerable women like Patel and Shuai.

Ah well, "gendercide," "fetal homicide," criminalized pregnancies, grieving families, targetted "communities" -- what does it matter to people on a Mission from Gawd?

Here's our Minister of National Defense at ARPA's "God & Government 2014" bunfest.

(Yes, I realize that photo is irrelevant, but I like it.)

UPDATE, Feb. 25/15: Windsor Star is running a poll on whether a fetal homicide law is needed. And as commenter Anon says, people are letting their emotions get in the way of the actual threat to women's rights such a law would present.

'Acids of Modernity' at a Christian Finishing School

Where to begin mocking the announcement -- finally -- of the actual establishment of the Office of Religious Freedom and the naming of its head, Andrew Bennet, to be styled apparently, 'Ambassador'?

I took my cue from Canadian Cynic and looked into the 'Christian college' of which Bennett is currently Dean.

It is Augustine College in Ottawa.

First thing to know -- it's tiny. It graduates at most 16 students a year, many years far fewer.

Next, it is a one-year program, well, really eight months, two semesters.

It certainly is Christian and evangelical. (Bold in original.)

The faculty, staff, and board of Augustine College desire above all to live out a faithful and disciplined Christian life, both as individuals and as a community.

Although we have come together from a diversity of church backgrounds and although the College has no denominational affiliation, we do share a profound desire for thorough-going faithfulness to the Lordship of Christ, submitting to the authority of Scripture and the foundational teachings of the Church.

We are called to unity in love of Christ (John 17) and seek to live by the first things of faith and, in the root sense, to exercise an evangelical duty to the world in which we have been placed.

Bennett exercising his 'evangelical duty' as an 'Ambassador' of Canada will go over well, I'm sure.

Next thing to know is that its views are a bit, well, retrograde.

Augustine College is a Liberal Arts college. It teaches the subjects that were the foundation of education for centuries, before education succumbed to the acids of modernity.

'Acids of modernity'* was one of the things that Evan Solomon latched onto in speaking to Jason Kenney on Power and Politics

At about the 9:15 mark, Solomon asks about the phrase. Watch Kenney bluster and squirm. Solomon also asks about non-believers and about situations where 'religious freedom' might conflict with other human rights, such as those of women and LGBT. Kenney faffs. (He is a very good faffer, isn't he?) But there is a teensy problem here. In a screed on the college website that should be hailed in the annals of the 'blog' of 'unnecessary' quotation marks, there's this.

We believe that faith is rational: reason shows man that he must have faith.

I'll let CC take that.

"We believe that faith is rational: reason shows man that he must have faith." augustinecollege.org/vision.html This will not end well. Trust me. — CC (@canadiancynic) February 20, 2013

If Andrew Bennett believes his faith is correct, he *must* then believe all the others are wrong. That's called "logic." — CC (@canadiancynic) February 20, 2013

Ok, then. Non-believers are irrational and believers of other nonsense are wrong. So who the hell goes there to study? It's a bit pricey for an eight-month bunfest program. Students pay $1500 down plus $3500 due on the first day of each of two semesters, total $8500. Residence is extra, but the site assures worried parents that it is NOT 'co-ed'. The college 'welcomes' everybody -- as long as they are Christian.

Many of our students have been home-schooled. Many come from public schools. Still others come to us after earning other degrees, desiring to fill in what several years of study elsewhere did not give them.

It's when we get to the Student Life part that things start getting really sad. This section talks up communal dinners, hymn sings, four tickets to the Ottawa Symphony, dinners with profs, and skating on the Rideau Canal.  All very wholesome. How 'bout this for a knee-slapping good time?

RESTLESS HEARTS CAFÉ Typically held around February 14, this pot pourri of entertainment includes readings, music, recitations, and lampoonery (sometimes harpoonery) presented by the students, faculty, and staff of the College.

'Harpoonery'? And there's helpful advice.

HIKING AND SPELUNKING The Gatineau Hills also have interesting caves and the Lusk Caves have been a destination for hikes. In fall the caves sport great views and sections of semi-submersed paths which are great fun to navigate (don’t forget a change of clothes, especially socks).

So what do student do upon graduation? There's a list of 13 mostly Christian (as far as I can tell) colleges in Canada and the US that will allow transfer of credits. Pay $8500 for some transferrable-only-to-Christian-colleges credits? Wow. Finally, if you have a penchant for sad-sacks, watch some students talk about their experience here. My conclusion: This new Ambassador is currently chief baby-sitter to a bunch of home-schooled kids in what amounts to a Christian finishing school. Is this really the best person the CONs could find?

There were reports that two people who had been approached to head up the new agency had turned down the post.

We here at DJ! look forward to watching the embarrassments activities of this latest Pandering to the CON Base effort. * 'Acids of modernity' is a phrase from a Walter Lippmann essay from 1929. By the way, he is the coiner of both 'Cold War' and 'Manufacture of Consent', though he is mainly known for his works on public opinion and advertising. Update from deBeauxOs: Stephen Lautens designed a special poster for the *Office* and his tweet regarding its funding. ADDED  by fh: Alison has more. UPDATE: Some question Bennett's academic credentials. No. Really?

ShriEEEk! Radical foreign lobby funds Canadian group

Oh.  Wait. 

This radical foreign "special interest" lobby?

The Catholic Organization for Life and Family [...] was cofounded by the Conference of Bishops and the world’s largest fraternal Catholic organization, the U.S.-based Knights of Columbus, “to build a culture of life and a civilization of love by promoting respect for human life and dignity and the essential role of the family.”  [...]
Although COLF is autonomous and they do their own publication, they still rely on outside sources to survive and are co-funded largely by the Conference of Bishops and the Knights of Columbus  [...] Based out of Connecticut, the Knights of Columbus run a network of charitable organizations which fund everything from broadcast media and construction of churches to scholarships and political activism. As of February 2011, the Canadian Knights have 227,538 members comprising 1,942 councils which form a dominant part of a link connecting potent Members of Parliament, the pro-life movement and the Catholic church.
Woodworth is a Knight, as are Americans John Boehner, Jeb Bush, and Rick Santorum.  [...]  The Canadian March of Life received $6,250 from the Knights of Columbus in 2004. In 2005, the Ottawa march disappeared from the books, but the Campaign for Life Coalition became an item on the cash recipient list with $17,752 in total financial support from 2005 to 2007.
Furthermore, according to a public statement by the Canadian Knights of Columbus, the annual interest of their $1 million Bishop du Laval fund is given directly to the Conference of Bishops. The statement also notes that the “Canadian Knights have also been key supporters and participants in Canada’s annual March of Life.” [...]
A March news release by the American Knights of Columbus records a private luncheon attended by Supreme Director of the Canadian Knights, Robert Cayea, and Speaker of the House, Conservative MP Andrew Scheer. The Speaker is himself a member of the Knights of Columbus Council 10418 in Regina. Other notable members of the Knights include Conservative MP Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, and a potential successor to PM Stephen Harper.

From here.



Its representatives (that we know) in the House of Commons: MP Stephen Woodworth, Minister Jason Kenney and Speaker Andrew Scheer.

Where's *Ethical Oil* Kathryn Marshall to shrieeek about a radical "foreign special interest" lobby and the art of political puppetry when her incomparable performance art is required?

This will have to do, then. 

Grand merci to Teri Mooring.

Woodworth's Wank: Update for Sept. 24/12

To no one's surprise, Arch Abortion Foe and 44-Year-Old Virgin, Jason Kenney, is in favour of Woodworth's Wank.

But today's news is that he, as a Cabinet Member in the government that swore up and down it would ^NOT reopen the abortion debate, is going to vote in favour of it.

Hm. Does that mean he is ^NOT a member of the government? Or that the government is ^NOT opposed to reopening the abortion debate?

Inquiring minds want to know. . .

In related news, via @canadiancynic, we offer this fabulous video.




The vote will be held Wednesday, September 26, at 5:00 p.m. EDT. All it needs is a simple majority, then presto! Twelve politicians -- seven, including the Chair, from the CON party -- will begin to investigate when Canadian Uteruses Become Wards of the State.


If you haven't yet sent your MP and PMSHithead emails, go here and get it done. And pass the link along.

The 'I love gays' email from Jason Kenney

Yesterday, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012, this email from Jason Kenney's parliamentary account landed in my inbox at the address I use for blogging, tweeting, and signing petitions.

Friends,

Last Friday, my colleague John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs, spoke in great detail about Canada’s principled foreign policy, including our efforts to promote basic freedoms around the world, and to take a stand against the persecution of gays and lesbians, and against the marginalization of women in many societies. I made similar remarks in my speech last November to the global conference of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where I raised the particular plight of gay and lesbian refugees.

As Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, I believe that Canada should always be a place of refuge for those who truly need our protection. That is why we continue to welcome those fleeing persecution, which oftentimes includes certain death, including on the basis of sexual orientation.

We are proud of the emphasis our Conservative Government has placed on gay and lesbian refugee protection, which is without precedent in Canada’s immigration history. We have increased the resettlement of gay refugees living abroad as part of our refugee programs. In particular, we have taken the lead in helping gay refugees who have fled often violent persecution in Iran to begin new, safe lives in Canada. We are also helping community groups like the Rainbow Refugee Committee to sponsor gay refugees for resettlement to Canada.

Please click on the web-links below for more information. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Hon. Jason Kenney, PC, MP
Calgary Southeast
www.JasonKenney.ca


September 15, 2012 - Canada a haven for persecuted gay Iranians, Kenney says
By: Tobi Cohen, Postmedia News
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Canada+haven+persecuted+Iranians+Kenney+says/7247978/story.html

September 14, 2012 - Address by Minister Baird at Montreal Council on Foreign Relations Luncheon
http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/speeches-discours/2012/09/14a.aspx?lang=eng&view=d

February 4, 2012 – Kenney responds to immigration story; argues systemic changes will not harm gay refugees
http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=1&STORY_ID=11477&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=1

January 23, 2012 - John Baird points finger at gay rights abuses in African, Caribbean countries
By: Jeff Davis, Postmedia News
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/23/john-baird-points-finger-at-gay-rights-abuses-in-african-caribbean-countries/

March 2, 2011 - Government of Canada to help gay and lesbian refugees fleeing persecution
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2011/2011-03-24.asp

December 11, 2009 - Canada Urges Uganda to Reconsider Draft Anti-Homosexuality Bill
http://www.international.gc.ca/media_commerce/comm/news-communiques/2009/381.aspx?lang=eng&view=d

I thought it was weird, but in the lather of the debate on Woody's Wank, didn't think much of it.

Until I saw this.

Yesterday I signed a petition vs. bill #M312. Today got an opportunistic "I LOVE GAYS" ad email from Jason Kenney. Never contacted him b4.

— eightbitempire (@eightbitempire) September 21, 2012

After that, I saw a few more people wondering how Jason Fucking Kenney got their email addresses for this 'I LOVE GAYS' message.

I want to know. Who else got this?

And how did Kenney's office get our email addresses?

So I just replied to the email and asked.

What the hell? How did you get my email address? I have never
communicated with you or your office and have no desire to.

Seriously, I expect a reply to this question: Where did you get my
email address?

Was Leadnow hacked?

Or does Vic really know everything?

AND: I was just talking to sweetie. He got it too. And he signed onto the LeadNow M312 auto-email too.


UPDATE: LGBT targetted. As well as prochoice people?

Compare and contrast

As fern hill pointed out here and also here, Jason "Vatican Taliban" Kenney's self-righteous little shrieeek about the niqab was an opportunity to attack the Charter of Rights. It was as well a dog-god-whistle to their reformaTory islamophobic base supporters as well as a CPC-engineered media diversion away from *Airshow* MacKay.

Funny, isn't it? Especially when you consider who are those who completely cover their faces - and routinely remove their badges - in the exercice of their roles during *Security Theatre* multi-million dollars performances.

It's why we call Contempt Party members Con Jobs.

Addendum: Read Tabatha Southey's thoughtful piece about women's right to choose how to clothe oneself and what those choices communicate.

Those Pesky Rights Thingies

When barbarians invade our legislatures and pass rights-crushing laws, our only recourse is the courts.

In the US, ReThuglicans have been merrily enacting laws intended, at the very least, to chip away at women's reproductive rights, and in the cases of 'heartbeat' laws to confront Roe v. Wade directly.

But some ReThugs may be having second thoughts about the astronomical costs of defending them in the courts. Especially since they usually lose on constitutional grounds.

As Republican-majority legislatures this year have passed new limits on abortion, some states are now paying mounting cots for litigation as those laws are challenged on constitutional and other grounds. The American Civil Liberties Union has promised to sue if the [Ohio] heartbeat bill passes.

The article goes on to detail some of the costs already incurred and funds being set up to defend new laws.

Naturally, the Fetus Lobby is unfazed by millions of taxpayer dollars blown on indefensible attempts to infringe on women's rights.

One goes further -- blaming the victims.

Mary Kay Culp, state executive director at Kansans for Life, noted that no state money would have to be spent if groups like Planned Parenthood didn't sue.

Bad Planned Parenthood! Bad American Civil Liberties Union! Forcing states to pony up to protect the fantasies of the Fetus Lobby!

And of course, as any Canadian CBC-hater will tell you, using ALL taxpayers' money. Even those who don't agree!

Meanwhile, in the formerly sane country now known as Harperland, Jason (Promoter of Vatican Sharia) Kenney is handling this week's Bright Shiny Thing File with his proposal to strip niqab-wearing women.

Is he worried about legal consequences?

Heck, no.

Speaking on CHQR, a Calgary-based Conservative radio show Monday morning, Mr. Kenney said he isn’t worried about legal objections to the ban.

“I’m sure they’ll trump up some stupid Charter of Rights challenge. That’s democracy. They’re welcome to object,” he told host Dave Rutherford.

Not only 'bad' Charter of Rights. 'STUPID' Charter of Rights.

This is how the 1% thinks of the rest of us. Bad and stupid when we try to assert and defend our rights.

The only way I can think of to fight back is to donate to the fighters.

More Contempt from the Cons

It's predictable that cowardly MinJKenney would go into attack mode to cover up the mendacity and hypocrisy of his Contempt Party government.

The Con politician who, like his master PMSHithead micro-manages every detail of his realm, takes cover behind bureaucrats who refused to approve a visa application from Sayed Shah Sharifi.

From here:

Sharifi is baffled by the department’s claims that his narrative has been inconsistent, insisting that he provided the same details before and after he was told he had preliminary approval for a visa, pending the standard medical and security checks.

The interview on July 21 was the final hurdle. Sharifi says he was asked odd questions by the Canadians, who identified themselves as civilian “immigration intelligence officers.”

“They told me, ‘We saw your articles on thestar.com,’” he said. “Did you pass (the visa screening) just by your articles in thestar.com or did you help us, the Canadians?’ So I showed them 13 letters and certificates from Canadian officials.

“They asked me questions from my childhood to yesterday,” Sharifi added. “And I provided them complete, perfect answers.[...]

So we are left with the judgment of Kenney’s anonymous officials and the word of an Afghan interpreter — one praised by his Canadian military supervisors as exceptional for his honesty, work ethic and leadership.

There's a depth and stink of moral corruption here that belies all of Kenney's pious religious bleating.

Like other islamophobes, it's clear he believes the only *good* Moslems are dead ones, killed by the Taliban.

The Better Catholic

Dean Del Mastro, or as Warren Kinsella styles it, Dean Del Scumbag, the Catholic Pentecostal religion critic for the Contempt Party of Canada, offered an alternative to Justin Trudeau as a more suitable Catholic speaker.

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?”

Hmm. Jason (Promoter of Catholic Sharia Law) Kenney?

Yeah. Him.

Wait for his appearance in this vintage vid from his (USian) Catholic university days.



My co-blogger has a particular, er, interest in Min. Kenney. Search DJ! for her gems on the subject. Here's one of them.

Compare and Contrast

Vancouver's Georgia Straight has a blog called *Blogra* where they've done the heavy lifting that the Globbin'Male won't do.

So it presents everything that you, the elector who didn't vote for the Contempt Party, needs to know about SHitehead's cabinet. For example, my virtual roomie's favourite, Cashmere Tony now President of the Treasury Board.

Globe: “He built a huge profile as the populist industry minister: protecting Canadian firms from multinational takeovers and consumers from excessive Internet bills.”

The unmentionable truth: Clement enraged producers and users of alternative medicine by introducing a bill to amend the Food and Drug Act, which would outlaw up to 60 percent of natural-health products on the market. Let's not even talk about the $50 million that went into his riding before the G8 and G20 summits.

There's more but not enough.

Every single one of Stevie Spiteful's bobble-heads in cabinet needs to have the real facts about his/her incompetence and propensity to do SHitehead's bidding exposed in public view. Peter Kent? Jim Flaherty?

How about MinJKenney? Now, there's a piece of work we've written much about and that a real journalist, if he or she had the backing of their news gathering organization, should investigate. I'd like to know how much tax-payer funded support his buddy Parm Gill received to advance his election campaign.

Jason *Easy Access* Kenney (update)

At the start of the election campaign, DAMMIT JANET! started a meme about Con candidates. Remember this one, where we questioned Parm Gill's claims about processing visas and immigration applications? It's particulary relevant, given some applicants move quickly through the system while others are plagued by incomprehensible delays.

Well that issue has come back to bite MinJKenney on his big white ass.

We've also cast a critical eye on Kenney, notably for the religious ideological dogwhistle that keeps blowing in his vicinity.

And while we're on the topic of catholic fundamentalism, here's a story about Gay ... err, happy Paree and French RWNJ (right wing nut jobs) that'll bring a twinkle to your eye.

Close to the Pompidou Centre and just across from Saint-Merri church, a stylish and discreet "Love shop" could go unnoticed. But it provokes some Catholics who have decided to go to court to remove its sex toys from the neighbourhood.

Founded in 2004 [...] the Paris and Marseille-based stores offer accessories to "spice up your sex life, feed your fantasies and explore new sensations in a friendly, sexy and delicious way." Led primarily by women, the shops are designed so that one can enter without embarrassment [...].

The National Confederation of Catholic Family Associations (CNAFC) and the association Love and Family have filed complaints against the company in court because the shop is located 90 meters from the Saint-Merri elementary school.

Full Google translation here.

If Contempt party leader SHithead and his Cons get the majority he demands, you can expect catholic zealots will lobby MinJKenney to shut down small businesses such as the one belonging to the married couple who created We-Vibe and successfully marketed it around the world.

Update: No response yet from Auditor General (it's not clear she is the appropriate Parliamentary authority to accept the charge) regarding Ruby Dhalla's public request.

Un grand merci to impolitical who first posted the Mesley interview at her blog.

"Of religious fanatics in the Conservative"

There are many great things about Twitter; one benefit is that it allows me to get behind Le Devoir's subscription wall. I follow Hélène Buzzetti; a link to her political piece of the day led to the discovery of this (once again, a modified Google translation for those who don't read French). As we've written before, the Contempt Party provides fundamentalist religious christian non-registered lobbyists like Charles McVety and Faytene Kryskow with direct access to Parliament via its evangelical MPs.

Today we discover that Jason Kenney is someone who believes in religious institutions that maintain catholic sharia. And he is a prominent member of the Harper Regime a political party that appears hell-bent intent upon changing the secularity of government.

Here's a CNN news clip link from the article, circa 1989-90:

The money quote from Le Devoir and the CNN piece:

Jason Kenney initiated a petition asking the Church to withdraw Catholic status from his university. The San Francisco Chronicle asked him about his reasons; Mr. Kenney replied: "If the university is not prepared to offer an educational environment consistent with the Catholic faith, it should cease to call itself Catholic. " On CNN Mr. Kenney said the [pro-choice] group had "destroyed the mission of the university." During the previous year Mr. Kenney tried to impose Catholic prayer before each meeting of the Student Senate, but his motion was defeated. Even the university's administrators found the the activities of young Kenney and others deplorable. Le San Francisco Bay Guardian avait publié en avril 1990 un article détaillant «le siège de la droite à USF». In a San Francisco Bay Guardian article published in April 1990 titled "The siege of the right-wing at USF", former professor Joseph Soehee described this zealous youth movement: "They want the return of the 50s. And I do not mean the 1950, I mean the 1550s: obedience, obedience, obedience."

The title of the post is the translation suggested by Google for "Des fous de Dieu chez les conservateurs" literally: God's crazies in the Conservative's ranks. And also. Paul Wells wonders what the hell Contempt party leader is doing with all his *free* time, now that he's locked out of his PMO politburo his office. This, too:

By the peculiar psychology of campaign journalism, asking a party leader how he has governed the country or how he would proceed if given a mandate to govern it some more is “playing along,” “in the tank,” “throwing lob balls.” Asking him process questions to work through our frustration at how he’s treating us, on the other hand, is “tough” and “uncompromising.”

Look, I find it upsetting that the Conservatives are shutting people out of their events, even people who have previously jumped through the ridiculous hoops it takes to be accepted to Conservative rallies but who are then found unacceptable for whatever Orwellian reason. I’m used to more relaxed rules.

But we are living in deluded fantasy if we think the hardest question an incumbent prime minister can face is about the attendance rules at his campaign events. And I cling to the belief that what’s worst about the Carson affair is that, five years after Harper’s government promised to provide clean water on Indian reserves, it’s still possible to get rich promising clean water for Indian reserves.

Did Con candidate offer visas for votes?

An Ottawa Citizen news item reports that Contempt Party candidate Parm Gill has been bragging about his staff's capacity for processing immigration applications. Isn't that an administrative procedure that is legally required to be done by properly trained workers employed by the Ministry?

According to the audio recording of Gill's comments and a transcript released by the Liberals, the Conservative praised his own record of a candidate saying that it "speaks for itself."

"I'm very proud that people come to me for help, even though I'm not being a member or have a government budget," Gill said, according to the transcript.

"I have three staff full-time just taking calls and helping me process immigration files or anything else," said Gill.

Oh, and yesterday I re-tweeted this. Just to check out if @kenneyjason had produced anymore revealing typos, I scrolled through his twitter stream and discovered he had withdrawn the original tweet and corrected the word *ethnic*.

Nonetheless, an interesting slip.

Reality Check memo to Jason Kenney:

The ideologically-laden term *christian* is ∧NOT∧ the opposite of the weasel-word *barbaric*.

There's a colloquial expression - s'enfarger dans les fleurs du tapis - that perfectly describes the LPC blunder with regard to criticism of the Harper Regime's revised immigration & citizenship guide. From here:

Liberal MP Justin Trudeau said the government should not call honour killings "barbaric" in a study guide for would-be Canadian citizens.

This is the contentious section: "Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, 'honour killings,' female genital mutilation, forced marriage or other gender-based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada's criminal laws."

Many fundamentalist gynophobes justify traditions of violence against women and girls by using religious tirades inspired by man-made exegetic ideology, which is based on old testament, gospel or qu'ran texts.

It would be more precise to state in the citizenship guide that crimes against women will be prosecuted and none can be justified by using religious beliefs.

But that might be offensive to the ReformaTory evangelical supporters so MinJKenney pre-emptively charges all newcomers' foreign "cultural practices" by comparing them to the *barbaric* carnage perpetrated by Crusaders and Inquisitors in medieval Europe.

Oh. Wait.

And in other MinJKenney news, here:

According to [No One is Illegal] "Approximately 25 of us, including many recent immigrants, came to protest and challenge this repressive Minister of Censorship and Deportation. It is clear that he only wanted a photo-op as part of his so-called ethnic media strategy. He hid out the whole time while we waited and surrounded the door in anticipation of his arrival. Instead, he had over ten police officers violently remove us and two people were repeatedly threatened with arrest. Apparently we have the right to protest outside but not to actually challenge and question him to his face"[...].

After the ceremony, MP Kenney described No One Is Illegal as a "bunch of extremists who don't think we should deport criminals from Canada."

That's quite amusing, MinJKenney©™, since your obfuscating Harper Regime colleagues Cannon and Nicholson seem reluctant to charge members of the Ben Ali clan and freeze their assets which is money stolen from the Tunisian people. Or unwilling to deport those criminals, as required.

Very Important Refugees

This post is not about Minister of Immigration Jason Kenney willfully disregarding the rule of law. Others have already scoped out and plumbed the depths of that topic.

This is about the Gaddafi⎮Kadhafi family: Papa Dicktator and his progeny - Mohamed, Seif Al-Islam, Al Saidi, Motassim Bilal (aka Hannibal) and Aisha.

Once upon a time Silvio and Muammar were tight friends - perhaps allies is the more precise term. They

agreed to work together to stem the increasing numbers of migrants seeking a better life in Europe. In addition to those leaving from North Africa, thousands more have been moving up the Red Sea from Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia and other countries. Their point of entry is Italy–specifically, the small Italian island of Lampedusa, which lies in the Mediterranean midway between Libya and Sicily.

In 2009, Qaddafi and Berlusconi made an agreement that became part of an open and often vicious campaign against migrants: Libya would try to keep them from leaving in the first place; if they got out, Italy would send them back to Libya without providing them a chance to make asylum claims.

Human Rights Watch has documented the attacks on migrants in a detailed report calledPushed Back, Pushed Around: Italy’s Forced Return of Boat Migrants and Asylum Seekers, Libya’s Mistreatment of Migrants and Asylum Seekers.

More here.

So now Gaddafi clan members are attempting to escape retribution. Aisha is on the run; the UN revoked her "special goodwill ambassador" status which means her diplomatic status has been withdrawn. A few years ago, insiders speculated she and Berlusconi had a romantic connection, albeit unconsumated because Aisha, at the age of 31, was too old for him.

The Italian Prime Minister faces serious legal problems right now; his political future hangs by a thread and a furious population would not react kindly to his decision to provide refuge to anyone fleeing Libya, whether wealthy or poor.

Aisha Gaddafi may have better luck with Jason Kenney; it's not clear that he's taken any action toward deporting members of the Ben Ali clan from Canada. He and his Cabinet colleagues appear to have *flexible* standards when it comes to enforcing policies, if deposed tyrants, their families and their ill-got assets are under consideration. Other family sponsorship applicants bereft of such privilege and wealth can wait - forever.

One word of caution: if Kenney proposes to wed Aisha for the purpose of getting laid sponsoring her father's application to enter Canada, he will have to convert to Islam in order to satisfy critics and to demonstrate the marriage is legitimate. Wonder how the ReformaTories' base supporters would react to that?

Nice parents you have, there.

It would sure be a shame if they died before your so-called family got a chance to re-unite, right?


It's not a stretch to imagine Jason "Like A Virgin" Kenney chuckling with his HarperCon cronies over this situation.

The government has banked tens of millions of dollars in immigrant application fees while taking little action to process the applications — a problem that will only be worsened when government reduces the overall number of visas issued in 2011 from 2010 levels, recently released government documents show.

The documents were made public by a University of Ottawa law professor who is currently at loggerheads with the federal government over his own parents' immigration application and who has been critical of the government on other issues.

Some of the most significant reductions, the documents show, will be seen in visas issued to parents and grandparents. The number of visas awarded to those would-be immigrants will decrease to 11,200 in 2011 from 16,800 in 2010, intensifying the congested backlog of more than 147,000 files waiting to be processed, according to the documents. Immigrants who applied to sponsor parents and grandparents have paid approximately $45 million for "nothing," said professor Amir Attaran, a Canadian who is also an immigrant. [...]

Attaran filed an application in the summer of 2009 to sponsor his own parents, who currently live in California. To date, Citizenship and Immigration Canada hasn't completed the first of the two-stage process, he said Monday. He said his frustration with the system led him to launch a lawsuit last summer against Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

More here.

Just in case you thought Attaran's situation was unusual, MP Navdeep Bains had harsh words for the arbitrary policy change, without any public discussion.

[...] Conservative Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s decision to cut family reunification visas by over 30%. “This decision means keeping families apart for up to 13 years,” said Mr. Bains. “We should be looking at ways to bring families together the Conservatives are out of touch with what New Canadian families need”.

Mr. Kenney’s announcement comes as the Harper Government looks to cut immigration by 5% overall. To meet this target the Harper Government has decided to cut family reunification visas by 5,000, from 16,000 a year to 11,000. This 30% reduction will compound existing wait times.

“These cuts will affect Canadian families across the country and will reverse decades of immigration policies from governments of different parties.” said Mr. Bains. “We have a moral obligation to give our new citizens a fair start and I don`t see how keeping a family apart for 13 years helps anyone”.“The Conservative Party would rather build new prisons than reunite families,” said Mr. Bains referring to the Government`s record spending prison building program. "I think it`s fair to say that their out of touch with the needs of everyday Canadians".

From here.

So, if your family doesn't look like Stevie Spiteful's nuclear family - Daddy, Mommy and 2 children - and it happens to be an extended one with uncles, aunts, grand-parents all pitching in to raise the next generation, and helping out with chores and financial support, don't bother to complete an immigration sponsorship form unless you want to lose more of your hard-earned savings to the HarperCons schemes.

Grand merci to Dr Dawg who spotted the Con jobs' hypocrisy.

Jason, Jason, pants a-blazin'

And - trust us on this one - it's SO NOT because there's a party going down there.

Oh yeah, it's that good old-time ReformaTory religion - Liar, liar, pants on fire.

The lies, they are a-spreading - like a sexually transmitted disease on steroids.

And so is the YouTube, first posted at stageleft, bounced by CC and now featured at The Galloping Beaver.

Make sure you read Boris' post about the pathological Cons and their uncontrollable lust for lies.

As we've said here many times, and we say once again:

They LIE.

They lie they lie they lie THEY LIE!

Where are The Fetus Fetishists? - Update

Where are R.E.A.L. Women of Canada? Why aren't they shrieeeking at Jason Kenney, for allowing this to happen?

A pregnant diabetic woman from Guinea was released from detention Monday and is now fighting to remain in the country on humanitarian grounds. [...]

Camara went into hiding to avoid the deportation, because she said if she's deported, she could lose her baby or face death. She's now facing a 2 p.m. flight Tuesday afternoon. [...] Camara left her homeland in 2006 after the death of her first husband. She said the man, who was much older and had two other wives, physically abused and raped her. "My former husband's family believes I was the cause of his death because I left the country after he died. I could be jailed in Guinea if I return."

She came to Canada, but was denied refugee status. A year later, she married Abdoul Sow, a marriage immigration officials contend was a sham.

She is 24 weeks pregnant, has Type 2 diabetes and had a miscarriage last year. Obstetricians in the high-risk pregnancy clinic where she is a patient say that she will not have access in Guinea to the kind of medical care she is receiving here. Her lawyer said her life and pregnancy are endangered if she is returned to Guinea. If she survives to give birth, her infant's life could also be at risk.

Oh. Wait. Sayon Camara is a Black women who can't vote. Why would a ReformaTory Minister, whose New™ MASSIVELY "accountable!" & "transparent!" government cut funding to shelters for women and children fleeing domestic violence, do anything to help her?

So much for Stevie Spiteful's maternal health care initiative. Did anyone actually believe that his pious bleating was anything but a ploy to insert propaganda into the news cycle that the PMO tries to control?




Today's update. From Cyberpresse, the above photo from the couple's wedding as well as additional information regarding Immigration officials bias for contending their marriage is a 'sham'. Abdoul Sow went west for a few months, to find work in a better paid employment. Many men in Canada do the same - go to Alberta to earn money while living in substandard conditions in order to support their families. Given the housing situation in places like Fort McMurray, it doesn't make sense for the families to uproot themselves from their communities and following the main wage-earner.