OH NOEZ!

Is Blob Blogging Wingnut, aka SUZYALLCAPS, the new pontiff's Twitter coach?

Reactions were mixed.

As one said: "No need to shout, your holiness."

This does not augur well.

More information about the Catholic Corporation's new CEO, Francis 1st.

Sanctifying Mother Teresa is a PR stunt

to distract from all the scandals in the Catholic Church.  Also, she raised millions of dollars for the Vatican Taliban - which is actually why they're canonizing her, I suspect.

Here's the latest about her.

A study conducted by Canadian researchers has called Mother Teresa "anything but a saint", a creation of an orchestrated and effective media campaign who was generous with her prayers but miserly with her foundation's millions when it came to humanity's suffering.

The controversial study, to be published this month in the journal of studies in religion/sciences called Religieuses, says that Teresa - known across the world as the apostle of the dying and the downtrodden - actually felt it was beautiful to see the poor suffer.

This was posted at DJ! about Mother Teresa, in response to yet another drive-by smearing of Margaret Sanger by the usual bunch of lying antiChoice zealots.

The conclave to elect the new pope is scheduled to start Tuesday.  Meanwhile, Canada's very own Ayatollah Ouellet is performing for the Vatican Taliban: 

This media circus around the election of a new Church CEO diverts public attention from its sordid history of sexual violation and abuse of women and children that continues unchecked in many countries.

Very recently, this occurred at an Ontario school under the jurisdiction of a Catholic school board.

Some parents in two Durham region Catholic schools were shocked when their elementary schoolchildren came home bearing a letter from their parish priest that included provocative questions. The letter, a call to return to Catholic practices, came with a two-page “examination of conscience” and invitation to reflect on sins before going to confession.

Have I committed adultery or fornication?

Have I become intoxicated?

Have I been disobedient or disrespectful to my husband?

Have I taken active part in any non-Catholic worship?

Other sins included: “Have I done unnecessary servile work (physical labour) or shopping on Sunday?” and “Have I denied my spouse his or her marriage rights?” 

Catholics. Once upon a time in Ontario, pressure from Francophone communities and Catholic organizations led to the creation of *Separate schools*, which set a precedent, in allowing the establishment of other publicly funded religious educational institutions. 

There are now many French non-denominational school boards that offer education in French in all regions of Ontario without the religious indoctrination. 

The time has come to remove public funding from the Catholic schools, as the Church appears to consider them their own property. Let the Vatican support them financially, since they exploit them as an extension of their propaganda arm, the notorious Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  Let them direct their staff to do fundraising with the promise that if they succeeded as well as Mother Teresa did, they will be canonized too. 

ADDED: Someone retweeted this of mine. An apt reminder of the other disturbing aspect of Catholic School Boards, which is to authorize child abuse, and the portrayal thereof, when it suits an ideological agenda. It's okay if you're a *good* Catholic.

Please note the presence of a Knights of Columbus official in the background, not currently demonstrating against the purported abuse of zygotes, embryos or fetuses, by women or medical professionals.

Our Long Municipal Nightmare Continues

The latest RobFuckingFordFiasco is still developing, so maybe I should hold off.

But what the hell? Lookit that picture!

After a bunfest last night sponsored by Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (whatever that is), Sarah Thomson, former mayoral candidate and no fave here at DJ!, posted that photo to her Facebook page with some allegations.

Former mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson says she wants an apology from Mayor Rob Ford for allegedly touching her inappropriately and making a suggestive remark to her at a party on Thursday night.

“He told me he was in Florida and I should have been with him because his wife wasn’t there,” Thomson told the Star on Friday. “I didn’t expect that. Rob doesn’t normally act that way towards women, so I was a little bit shocked and then we posed to get our picture taken and he grabbed my ass during the pose.”

Starting last night and ramping up as I type, all kinds of claims of lies and set-ups and drunkenness and substance abuse are flying around.

Ford's defenders are very LOUD. They're saying Thomson's story changed, she was drinking, Ford was NOT drinking (lookit that picture again), Thomson's out to get Ford etfuckingcetera.

She's being criticized for taking it to Facebook, for not being more discrete, again etfuckingcetera.

In short, she's being trashed.

However this turns out, on International Women's Day, we have yet another example of two seemingly eternal features of the patriarchy.

1. However a woman handles a sexual assault, it's the wrong way.

2. Women lie and can't be believed over men. No matter the circumstances.

Here's Neville Park's tidy summation.

She's well-connected, moneyed, with every privilege; he's widely disliked, history of lying—what chance do any of *us* have? #TOpoli #IWD
— Neville Park (@neville_park) March 8, 2013

Happy International Women's Day. Ford's timing is, as always, impeccable.

Bonus: Right now, Thomson and Daniel Dale of the Star are doing a live online interview. I assume it will remain available at that link when it's over. If not, I'll come back and update.

Added by deBeauxOs - Since Rob Fucking Ford's credibility is at issue, just thought I'd stick this in here, too.

Mayor Rob Ford has angered teachers and parents at the Etobicoke high school where he coaches football — and prompted an investigation by the Catholic school board — with comments the teachers say depicted the school in a “demeaning way that was filled with untruths.”

Read the whole story.


UPDATE (12:45 p.m.) Team Ford is going with Total Mystified Denial. Not She Misinterpreted. Not I Apologize Not That I Did Anything Wrong.

And not only denial. He calls her a liar. As in this gob-smacking sentence.

What is more surprising is that a woman who has aspired to be a civic leader would cry wolf on a day where we should be celebrating women across the globe.

I believe that wolf will come back to bite him on his MASSIVE ass.

Sorry for your loss and for our PM, Venezuela

If you, like the people of Venezuela, are appalled by PMSHithead's sanctimonious anti-condolence message, you can send your own.

First, what he said. Note no mention of Chávez's family.

Harper said in his short statement on Tuesday that he hopes the death of Chavez brings a more promising future for the Venezuelan people.

"At this key juncture, I hope the people of Venezuela can now build for themselves a better, brighter future based on the principles of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights," Harper said in a statement Tuesday evening.

Harper also said that he looked forward "to working with (Chavez's) successor and other leaders in the region to build a hemisphere that is more prosperous, secure and democratic."

Translation: My buds hear you got a shit-load of oil and they want it.

It's Louise McKinney's (Proud_Libtard) idea. She sent an email to the Venezuelan consulate in Toronto and it bounced back. I did the same with the same result. She suggested we send our messages to the Venezuelan embassy in the US. So I did that.

Or we could just send Venezuelans -- and everyone else for that matter -- here.

Vaginas Retaliate!

The University of Cincinnati recently played host to the campus-roving display of huge nasty photos linking abortion to genocide and slavery and bad breath. You know, the FetusMobile people.

Well, some smarty-pants students came up with an absolutely brilliant idea and are pulling it off in spectacular fashion.

Nearly a dozen billboard-sized photos of vaginas in various states – including shaved ones, others that are blemished, and still some with tampons inserted – are slated for display today and tomorrow at the University of Cincinnati as part of a student-sponsored “Re-Envisioning the Female Body” exhibit.

The female genitalia photos are in direct retaliation to an anti-abortion display hosted by prolife students at the university last May that included graphic images of aborted fetuses, its organizers state.

“Their billboard-sized photographs equated mutilated fetuses with genocide victims in an effort to shame women,” states Female Body exhibit organizers on their Facebook page. “Our demonstration serves to call attention to the vaginas as a site of conflict … its purpose is to incite conversation about the objectification, exploitation and discrimination of women’s bodies … it points to the negative disposition our society holds toward the vagina.”
. . .
“The pose that I chose reflects this idea that a woman’s body is sort of medicalized,” Kate Elliott, the University of Cincinnati student who co-organized the exhibit and took the vagina photos, told City Beat. “I overexposed the images so they’re really jarring. They’re not cutesy or subtle, they’re right up in your face.”

There's a Facebook page with one of the photos and lots of comments, natch.

Whose work would aspiring feminist portrayers evoke? The Grand Mistress of Vagina Art, of course.



The University will not interfere.


Image source

Police brutality: cops walk, again.

More evidence that cops are not subjected to the same *justice* system standards that ordinary citizens are.

Two police officers charged after an incident with an elderly man that court heard involved a Taser, won’t have to face trial since the case was delayed too long.

RCMP Const. Mitchell Spears and Transit Police Const. Ken Jansen were both charged with assault after an incident at Surrey Memorial Hospital with patient Keith Booker that was witnessed by a nurse, court heard previously.

Spears, the officer who arrested Booker on April 22, 2010 and took him to hospital, was also charged with assault with a weapon.

B.C. Provincial Court judge Ronald Lamperson decided Wednesday all charges in the case, which saw an “institutional delay” of 22 months, would be stayed.

Meanwhile, research has confirmed the presence of a two-tier criminal *justice* system, with regard to First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples.

Aboriginal people are so vastly over-represented in Canada's federal prison system that current policies are clearly failing them, according to a new report by the Office of the Correctional Investigator.

The report found "no new significant investments at the community level for federal aboriginal initiatives. No deputy commissioner dedicated solely to and responsible for aboriginal programs, planning, implementation and results. And worst of all, no progress in closing the large gaps in correctional outcomes between aboriginal and non-aboriginal inmates," Howard Sapers, the correctional investigator for Canada, said during a news conference in Ottawa.

The report was tabled in the House of Commons Thursday morning — only the second special report ever written by the investigator since the office's creation 40 years ago.

The trail of many social policies which have marginalized one group of our population "defines systemic discrimination," Sapers said.

Grand merci to Ikwew for source material.

More Fashion Tips from Cops

You think they'd learn.

From the same police department whose fashion tips inspired the international movement, Slut Walk, now fashion tips for pedestrians who don't want to get hit by a fucking car.

Toronto police kicked off a weeklong pedestrian safety campaign called “Do The Bright Thing!” on Monday morning at Union station.

Officers will talk to people at the subway station concourse all week, encouraging pedestrians to wear bright-coloured or reflective clothing when possible.

Making a grocery list, I tweeted.

Going out for a walk. Strapping flashlights & reflectors all over me. Don't want to get blamed if hit by car. #WalkTO #topoli

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) March 4, 2013

The smarty-pantses who follow me responded.

@fernhilldammit but if you're all lit up like that you're distracting! I can't help it I start staring & drive into you. Still your fault.

— hornblower (@Indefatigabl_) March 4, 201
3

@fernhilldammitIt'll be your own fault if those flashlights blind a driver #WalkTO #topoli

— trapdinawrpool (@trapdinawrpool) March 4, 2013

Because it's just like rape, eh? If you dress like a slut, you're asking to get raped. And if you dress like a normal human being, you're asking to get hit by a car.

Because drivers, like rapists, can't help themselves. Rapists see a slutty looking woman and they just gotta rape. Drivers see a slow, defenceless pedestrian and they just gotta drive into him/her.

How about telling the damn drivers: PAY ATTENTION! THERE ARE SLOW CREATURES OUT THERE WHO MAY GET IN YOUR WAY OCCASIONALLY BUT IT IS STILL NOT OKAY TO MOW THEM DOWN.

DJ! proposes the Dark Walk. Masses of humans wearing ordinary clothes taking over the sidewalks and crossing streets legally and carefully and, you know, walking.

Or maybe cut out the middle man and just dress like victims already.




Image source

UPDATE: Checking the referring sites, I found that this post has attracted the attention (no doubt short) of an appropriately named discussion board called The Slymepit. (I won't link.) It seems to exist to exude venom at sites like Atheism+, Skepchick (and its founder, Rebecca Watson), and FreeThoughtBlogs, centering on PZ Myers. It's a narsty, narsty place. And, of course, humour impaired. *waves at slymepitters*

Vic Toews: Opposition didn't stop us from appointing a crook

When I saw this tweet, I thought Stephen was kidding.

Vic Toews says it's the fault of Opposition for not catching Harper making awful appointments huffingtonpost.ca/2013/02/28/har… #cdnpoli

— Stephen Lautens (@stephenlautens) March 3, 2013

He's not. (Bold mine.)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper downplayed concerns Thursday over an arrest warrant for Arthur Porter, the former head of the committee that oversees Canada's spy agency.

While Harper was minimizing worries about Porter's top secret security clearance and privy councillor status, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews attacked the opposition parties for not challenging the government on the appointment when they had the chance in 2008.

Don't that beat all?

The Corrupt Party of Canada has reached the nadir of Opposition-blaming, I think.

What's for Dinner? . . . Who the Hell Knows?

OK, I get that most (normal) people are not interested in politics. As long as all is relatively well in their little worlds, people don't much care who's in charge.

But what I DO NOT GET is how people can be unconcerned about the food and water they ingest.

Oh yeah, there are recalls and scares and stories, like the horse meat 'scandal' and the more recent revelation that tuna ain't tuna.

84% of fish samples labeled "white tuna" were actually escolar, a fish that can cause prolonged, uncontrollable, oily anal leakage.

Then there are bigger fish to fry, so to speak.

Alberta shit-beef

Listeriosis

Walkerton

Some of these are stupid mistakes, compounded by failures of the regulators whose budgets are being merrily slashed all over the world.

Right now there are 42 products listed on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's website. How many would there be if the agency had better resources?

Don't know, do we?

But most of the mislabelling and contamination, I would submit, is attributable to sheer corporate greed. Again, compounded by lack of oversight.

Here is a interview by Amy Goodman of Melanie Warner, author of a book I'm not sure I'm brave enough to read called Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal.

Warner is talking about the nutritional value (ha) of processed food, specifically cereals. She's talking about vitamins being added to them. (This is a transcript but I'm tempted to go listen to it to hear Goodman's tone of voice.)

MELANIE WARNER: And I was really surprised to learn where some of these vitamins come from. I never really thought about it in much detail, as probably most people don’t. But it turns out that they’re—these vitamins are not coming from the foods that contain them. Like vitamin C does not come from an orange, and vitamin A does not come from a carrot. It’s very far from that. They come from things that really aren’t actually foods. Vitamin D, for instance, was probably the most shocking. It comes from sheep grease, so actually the grease that comes from sheep wool. You have giant barges and container ships that go from Australia and New Zealand over to China, where most of—a lot of our vitamins are produced. About 50 percent of global vitamin production comes from China inside these huge factories, very industrial processes. A lot of vitamins are actually chemical processes.

AMY GOODMAN: Wait.

MELANIE WARNER: And they’re very technical and complex.

AMY GOODMAN: A lot of people, if they’re with someone, they’re looking at them right now. Wait a second. So, China gets all these shipments of sheep wool from Australia, and they’re pulling the sheep grease off of them to make vitamin D?

Yep. China is doing that.

China, where some of the world's most enthusiastic capitalists have made literal killings in the food biz.

Remember the pet food recalls?

And the absolutely horrifying case of infant formula adulterated with melamine to fake up the protein content?

And yet people seem to be OK with allowing the private sector to monitor and regulate itself?

People are OK with greedy bastards putting lard-knows-what in our food to make a few more pennies or yuan?

People are OK with governments cutting science and inspection budgets and muzzling the scientists whose work we pay for?

Why isn't this a HUGE issue?

I don't get it.


Image source and scary blog from the University of Guelph.