Theocratic Prisons for the Crime of Being Imprisonable: Part 1000

Never, ever expect me to believe someone when they blather on about morality needing divine sourcing. And don't bother with the "No True Scotsman" fallacy that people, especially those noted below, weren't authentically 'Christian'. When we talk about the horrors of the Residential schools across Canada for Indigenous children and the "Christian Brothers" for their wards in Newfoundland, we should always keep in mind that the systemic, State-approved, religiously run prisons (because that's what they are when people are locked into them with no chance to leave of their own free will) were honed in Europe for generations before being exported to the 'new world'.

How many children that survived this kind of torture and abuse went on to exist as spirit-mutilated adults, and even torturers of children in their turn? What else had they learned at the hands of the 'merciful', 'civilizing', 'soul saving' regimes? We're all harmed by this kind of malfeasant crushing of the young and vulnerable.

As Avicenna says:

The fact of the matter is that no one did anything, no one cared about these children because bastards didn’t matter. The Catholic claim of “Every Child is Sacred” was a lie (yet again) and in being holier than thou the Church forgot what the world humane means.

Just remember, what was done in Ireland in its Homes and Magdalene Laundries are the result of theocratic control of women's bodies being given free rein inside a society. Only now, in increasingly secular societies, is the hypocrisy and bloody ledgers of theocrats coming to light. Remember this and those who paid the ultimate price, when someone tries to convince you churches know how to deal with pregnant women and uppity children.

Please don't say such tortures were 'behaviour of the culture of the time', which makes it okey dokey to dismiss. I loathe that handwaving excuse, which is handily trotted out by those who framed the 'morality' punishments in the first place...no conflict of interest there...much. There are many contemporary accounts in 'the time' that counter such apologistics, but the key is, opposition was not wielded by the State and in far too many cases, the State was complicit with religious authorities to maintain the illusion of 'moral authenticity' in a Herculean cognitive dissonance and, not incidentally, desire to keep the populace at large from turning on them.

The same sort of unaccountable 'correction' of those deemed 'morally deficient' is being demanded right-bloody-now by religious institutions and leaders. There's no shortage even now, of religiously-based 'retreats' where adolescent girls and boys are sent, willingly or not, where they are forcibly confined and experience a range of extra-legal punishment they're not supposed to expose to the greater community. There's no shortage now of "pregnancy centres" run by religious folks, whose main outcome is to shame pregnant women into continuing their pregnancies, no matter the burden to the woman in question...but don't count on them for actual support of the pregnancy or following motherhood. And that's without State backing and *with* the growing influence of the information flow along the intertubes.

Yeah, yeah, I know. It can't happen here, except it has, and it can't happen now...so long as we in Canada make certain it doesn't. We owe it to those whose suffering and deaths is our signpost.


/thanks to Avicenna at "A Million Gods"

If thine eye offends thee ...

What appears to be missing in discussions around the niqab is a reminder what the garment's purpose is.

There exists in fundamentalists religions a gynophobic belief that women are more evil than men because female bodies provoke men to act in "lustful" ways.

In pop psychology and law, this approach is known as "blame the victim".

Such religious doctrine is based on interpretations of the Old Testament, the New Testament or the Qu'ran that exculpate or exonerate a man who has sexually violated a girl or a woman, instead of insisting that he be held accountable for his actions.

As an extension, women are told that hiding their female bits - and more - from the gaze of men who are not authorized to look on them will protect them.

As if.

Perhaps men offended, threatened or tempted by girls' and women's bodies should be made to wear blindfolds.

Of course, those - like Blob Blogging Wingnut - who claim to be oppressed and persecuted by feminism tend to project their paranoid fantasies about what would happen if women were in charge.

According to scripture: "And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell."

That's really too bloody and barbaric for my taste, but I get male theocrats' fears that female religious jurists could apply this punishment by condemning men who have sexually assaulted girls or women to pluck out an eye.

It would certainly be a deterrent. And also easy to identify those men that women should avoid. A one-eyed priest, imam or rabbi would certainly not be left alone with children.



Just thought I'd end this rant on a note of levity - and sanity.

Wanted: One Deaf, Blind, Mute Catholic Virgin for Jason Kenney.

C'mon! Doesn't he deserve it?

He transformed the shameful backlog of refugee claims produced by his own Con government’s refusal to staff key positions into an achievement without even implying that Liberals were to blame.

He chastized the provinces for their naughty tendency to provide reasonable social safety nets to their neediest citizens.

He ensured that key information about same-sex marriage and sexual orientation rights in Canada was kept out of the new orientation guide for immigrants.

He ingratiated himself with strident defenders of Israel’s undeclared genocidal war upon the Palestinian people by adhering to the notion moderate Canadian Christian organizations such as Anglicans, Quakers and Mennonites are extremists.

This last strategy is critical for theocratic ideologues within Harper’s ReformaTory bully squad.

Though a self-proclaimed devout member of the Roman Catholic Church, Kenney is unmarried. Surely the CPC could find a suitable breeding heifer wife for this splendid specimen of hefty rightwing zealot masculinity?

Won’t somebody please think of the children?

Exactly so. Along with support for Israel so that The Prophecy can happen* doesn't someone have to spawn the Anti-Christ?

Bonus! Photo Caption Contest. Leave your entry in the comments.

*This theology which is an aberrant form of Christianity (rejected by most major Christian churches) teaches that the Old Testament prophecies were destined to be replayed in the modern world, leading to the Day of Judgement and the Final Battle of Armageddon as proclaimed in the New Testament.

According to this school of thought, the ingathering of the Jews into Israel in 1948 was part of God's plan to bring on the Final Battle, in which the forces of Good (which fundamentalist Christians see as the U.S. and its allies) would confront the forces of Evil (correspondingly seen as the Soviet Union and its allies--Arabs and Muslims). This battle would lead to the destruction of the earth, which for this theology is a necessity before Jesus can return to save "the select, the believers".

This Christian fundamentalist view maintained that, although all Jews must ultimately be converted into Christianity in order to fulfill the prophecies, Israel must be supported at all costs. Hence the strong support given by the religious right to Israel. From here.

Frank Iacobucci and the Ides of March.

There is really no reason why former Supreme Court Justice Iacobucci would accept the Harper mission.

Except for the munnee - though various descriptions of his illustrious career indicate he made an early decision to forgo a lucrative practice of corporate law in Manhattan in favour of education and public service.

Surely the former judge knows that the theocratic ReformaTory government and its bullies are trying to buy time in order to delay any scrutiny regarding their actions on the Afghanistan detainee procedures as well as to purchase Iacobucci's credibility?

He'd do well to remember the words of Julius Caesar's wife, uttered on this fateful day, over 2,000 years ago.

"Don't go there, Franky, don't go!" - paraphrased ever so slightly from this famous Wayne & Shuster skit.



Enjoy life, Frank. Avoid the aggravation this inquiry will bring you.

Have a martinus. What the hell ... have two!

“Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people.”

That statement comes from Don Schmierer, an evangelist anti-gay militant who now claims that he and his fellow US fundamentalist crusaders were "duped" by Ugandan officials who invited them to express their views last year. Their teachings about “curing” homosexuality - which have been widely discredited in the US, were presented in Kampala over three days to audiences of thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers, politicians and legislators.

The visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, [...] and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” whose goal is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.”

Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior. One month after the conference, a previously unknown Ugandan politician, who boasts of having evangelical friends in the American government, introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, which threatens to hang homosexuals, and, as a result, has put Uganda on a collision course with Western nations.

Donor countries, including the United States, are demanding that Uganda’s government drop the proposed law, saying it violates human rights, though Uganda’s minister of ethics and integrity (who previously tried to ban miniskirts) recently said, “Homosexuals can forget about human rights.”

The Ugandan government, facing the prospect of losing millions in foreign aid, is now indicating that it will back down, slightly, and change the death penalty provision to life in prison for some homosexuals. [...]

The three Americans who spoke at the conference [...] are now trying to distance themselves from the bill. “I feel duped,” Mr. Schmierer said, arguing that he had been invited to speak on “parenting skills” for families with gay children. He acknowledged telling audiences how homosexuals could be converted into heterosexuals, but he said he had no idea some Ugandans were contemplating the death penalty for homosexuality.

“That’s horrible, absolutely horrible,” he said. “Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people.” Mr. Lively and Mr. Brundidge have made similar remarks in interviews or statements issued by their organizations. But the Ugandan organizers of the conference admit helping draft the bill, and Mr. Lively has acknowledged meeting with Ugandan lawmakers to discuss it. He even wrote on his blog in March that someone had likened their campaign to “a nuclear bomb against the gay agenda in Uganda.” Later, when confronted with criticism, Mr. Lively said he was very disappointed that the legislation was so harsh.

From here. Scott Lively "was very disappointed that the legislation was so harsh" - what the hell did he expect his hateful, biased, screed would produce? A "nuclear bomb" is not an instrument of peace - some might call it religious terrorism.

The discourse these three homophobic hatemongers gave was an incitement to violence against gay men, lesbians and transgendered people. And now they claim no responsibility for the response their privileged audience members had, and the actions they took.

Remember, these theocrats have an agenda, and in spite of their lying protestations to the contrary, they are positioning themselves to influence legislation and elected officials in Canada also.

Why KAIROS matters.

L'union fait la force. Together we stand, divided we fall.

Alliance-busting is one of many Rovian tactics that the ReformaTories have developed to undermine their opponents and to pre-empt legitimate criticism of Stevie Spiteful and his bullies' way of doing business.

The Con's biggest and most recent target is KAIROS, a compassionate alliance of Canadian religious organizations who work together to bring peace to parts of the world ravaged by conflicts, through a number of humanitarian projects.

In November, KAIROS was told in a desultory way by Minister Oda that its CIDA funding had been cut.

Then two other ReformaTory attack parrots, Toews and Kenney piled on the justifications to justify their government's savage coup bas.

From here:

The speech of Jason Kenney in Jerusalem December 16, tagging peace and development group KAIROS as anti-Semitic and bragging about de-funding it, was so grotesque that it must have left many in the established Jewish community feeling slightly ill. Can they really be comfortable with the accusation that an organization composed of Canada’s major Christian churches are Jew-haters?

Are they willing to let KAIROS lose its projects in the suffering nations of the global south because, though it believes in Israel’s right to peace and security, it also thinks Palestinians have rights too? [...]

After 35 years of CIDA funding, KAIROS will lose $7 million project money ending its support for the peace process in Sudan, for victims of violence in Indonesia and the rights of women in warring Colombia.

Kenney now claims his remarks were misunderstood. I think that he “mis-spoke” by expressing these views publicly, in a venue where his comments were recorded. But it wasn’t accidental. There’s a pattern there, and a tightly scripted, repressive trajecTory being charted by the rightwing socon theocrats in the PMO.

There are many progressive bloggers who have been researching, writing about this grievous assault on KAIROS and making strong points about the Con nature of such pernicious and loathsome political tactics: Scott Tribe, bigcitylib and Dennis Gruending, to name a few. We have to keep blogging about this, and to stand in solidarity with peace-loving organizations today, December 25th and every day of the year.

Theocracy in the US, continued

In-frikkin-credible. From Politico (emphasis mine):

Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson held up introducing his amendment to tighten restrictions on federal funding for abortion to give Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch and the Catholic bishops more time to review it, reports CQ's Alex Wayne.

Wayne reports (subscription required):

But Nelson decided later Thursday to hold off after Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, said he thought that the measure was being rushed to the floor. Hatch had expected to be the lead sponsor of the amendment, and he said he thought it was “discourteous” that Nelson was preparing — apparently at the behest of his leadership — to call up the amendment without Hatch’s consent.

Nelson said that the amendment’s language was not finished, and that groups opposed to abortion — notably the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — needed more time to review it. Additional time, he added, might lead to greater bipartisan support.

Unless Nelson and Hatch depart significantly from Stupak’s language, their amendment has little chance of adoption. The Stupak language would prohibit the public option from covering most abortions and would forbid private insurers to offer plans covering elective abortion to people who buy them using federal subsidies.

As Sinclair Lewis is supposed to have said: 'When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.'

And there doesn't seem to be much that can done about such theocratic lobbying.