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.

Two models of church-based international development.

Dennis Gruending has researched and written about the lobbying efforts that neocon fundamentalist religious organizations have directed against progressive and ecumenical groups in Canada and in particular, those working in international development.

Kairos, for example, and earlier this year Peace and Development. The fear, the anger and the hatred that religious rightwingnuts of all christofascist tendencies have directed towards their humanitarian work is quite savage.

There's been much speculation about what motivated Stevie Spiteful and his merry band of Harpocrites to cut CIDA funding to KAIROS.

The most obvious and clear reason would be its role in facilitating discussion about the Alberta tar sands.

But I think there's another reason. In November, the PMO issued a statement condemning the blood-thirsty homophobic laws the Ugandan parliament may ratify. This was consistent with previous statements he made that his government would not reverse Canadian laws that recognize equal rights for gay men and lesbians with respect to marriage.

So the Con/reformaTory "base" is seething with discontent and malevolence because its fundamentalist religious initiatives are not receiving the government support they claim as their due for electing Harper to power. And it's not a stretch to imagine the model of international network building these rightwing religious fundamentalists would emulate.

Thus Stevie Spiteful's only recourse, in order to appease those hostile grassroots astro-turf christofascist groups is a grand and dramatic gesture - ergo, a MASSIVE slash & burn cut to Kairos' funding.

As a bonus, he reaps the benefits of re-directing that money towards his own narcissistic the PMO public relations needs or any other purpose.

Investigative journalism: the excellent and the ugly.

JJ at unrepentant old hippie brings us up to speed on the latest escapades of the pseudo-investigative pro-lies darling Lila Rose. One of her odious little productions has been removed from YouTube and ...

Predictably, the whining and yammering is rising to an ululating crescendo as the denizens of Nurse Stanek’s Psych Ward & Basketweaving Workshop stroke themselves into a persecution-driven ragegasm ...

Ah yes, it's all about their conspiracy-driven premise that women seeking help from US Planned Parenthood and the staff are in collusion to commit murder. Murder most foul!!! The Every-Sperm-Is-Sacred League of fetus fetishists and abortion-criminalizers is willing to see all clinics closed to achieve their aims. Women suffering from various chronic and life-threatening illnesses related to their reproductive systems be damned!

At the opposite end of the investigative journalism spectrum, as far as possible from Lila Rose's "How to Entrap and Defame Planned Parenthood Clients and Staff and Make $100,000." videos as possible is the excellent Dennis Gruending and his recent exposé of the pro-lies campaign to shut down Peace and Development.

Back in April we blogged about this particular manifestation of religious zealotry. Gruending however meticulously followed up every allegation, every shrieeek, and every MASSIVE accusation against Peace and Development and connects it to a resolutely self-righteous and self-serving movement within the Catholic Church.

A Catholic organization should, by LifeSite’s criterion, be prevented from participating in any project that is not explicitly Catholic in its values and approach. In other words, Catholic organizations should not be involved in anything that the church does not direct or control. This rigid triumphalism is entirely contrary to Vatican II, which promoted engagement in the world with people of other religions and people of good will. To place this mentality in a Canadian context, Catholic organizations should not participate in any project with the United Church of Canada because that church does not subscribe to Catholic positions on abortion or contraception, not to mention women’s ordination. ...

The great misfortune here would be to have the church retreat from engagement into a judgemental and sterile ghetto. In fact, this is already beginning to happen. Some Catholics, including bishops, have chided Amnesty International for supporting family planning as a woman’s right and the organization has had to curtail its clubs and fund raising activities in certain Catholic schools. Other Catholic schools have reportedly cancelled fundraisers for the Stephen Lewis Foundation because Lewis promotes the distribution of condoms to combat the spread of AIDS.

It appears as though the Vatican Taliban continues to promote human suffering as a strategy for entrenching its ideologically-driven doctrine.