Jesus wants you to know He's not that into you.

After attending this event last Friday, I puzzled and procrastinated for a week about how I'd blog about it.

Part of the challenge was finding the perfect photo to grace my observations. Thanks to Edstock at The Galloping Beaver, I was finally able to bring forth a worthy post. The picture above is the 'before' one, since "Touchdown Jesus" was struck by lightning and burned down this week.

That raised-arms pose was ubiquitous at the Ottawa Civic Centre as 99% of the crowd - most of them pallid christians of European ancestry - swayed to soft rock melodies whilst chanting lyrics such as "Jesus' blood washes white as snow" & "worthy is the Lamb of God" and. It felt like a watered-down rave for middle-aged pentecostal evangelists and assorted charismatics.

After the religious entertainment portion of the evening was done with (including a bizarre choreographed version of first contact between Aboriginal and European folks that glossed over the history of forced religious conversions), Elijah Harper was invited to the stage. His words brought tears to my eyes and elicited a rousing Hallelujah! - he spoke powerfully to the reality of the First Nations people living conditions, spirituality and strength. It was the highlight of the evening, imho.

And. Also. Too. A lot of money was on display, in the state-of-the-art television recording and broadcasting installations. Before the religious pageant started, Faytene Kryskow sauntered through our seating area, in not-kewl hoi polloi territory. Apparently the group sitting in the seats below us had not been given the VIP status they deserved.

David Mainse established the nation's first Christian television show, Crossroads, in 1963. In 1977 he launched 100 Huntley Street, now Canada's longest-running Christian TV program.

As Faytene led Mainse and the dozen or so people in his entourage to reserved seats close to the stage, she apologized for the oversight, blurting out that the Aboriginal volunteers involved in the organization of the event "did not know who the important people were".

Oh really, Faytene? Shouldn't Jesus be the Most Important One to know?

The difference between inflammatory and defamatory.

The Toronto Police union is calling for Sid Ryan to resign after the labour leader suggested police may plant agent provocateurs among the G20 protesters to incite violence. “It’s a totally irresponsible, inflammatory and idiotic thing to say for someone in his position. Nothing could be further from the truth,” said Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association. “It’s a total insult to police everywhere.”

At a Wednesday news conference for the “People First!” rally, Ryan said he had concerns the police would use disguised agents to cause chaos in order to provoke a violent response from security forces. “They’ve done it before,” said Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour. “I’m concerned about that as a tactic to justify police presence and justify the spending of $1.3 billion on security.”

From here. Notice McCormack said inflammatory and not defamatory. An explanation for this would be, as the letter from the Council of Canadians to Harper illustrates, there is cause for such concerns.

“Three undercover police officers attempted to incite violence in 2007 at the Montebello protest against the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The proof of their actions was caught on film,” adds Barlow. “The Sûreté du Québec was forced to admit that they were police officers, dressed in black and holding rocks. Yet, to date no one has been held accountable and through his silence, Harper appears to have given tacit approval of the use of agents provocateurs.”

It was the above incident that came to mind when this occurred in Ottawa, shortly before Stevie and his bullies disclosed the billion dollars (and rising) budget anticipated for the G-8/B-20 held in Ontario, much of it dedicated to public government security.

You don't have to be batshit crazy to run for US office. . .

But it helps. (And a peculiar name seems to go with the territory too.)

Meet Zack Wamp, Rethuglican candidate for governor of Tennessee. The blog Nashville Scene calls him the Democrats' favorite spittle-flecked Republican.

Zach Wamp says if Tennessee will only outlaw abortion, God will give our state new jobs and a booming economy. According to Wamp, God already has blessed the economy of his hometown of Chattanooga for keeping abortion clinics out of the city.

"Let me tell you one of the reasons why Chattanooga is a very blessed city today, why we have so much new economic development and why we're really an anointed city," the eight-term congressman said at a Tennessee Tea Party convention this summer inGatlinburg.

"There are no abortion clinics in Chattanooga. We made a decision. We made a decision a long time ago that we were going to work as a community to not allow abortion clinics in our city, and I got to tell you we're trying to be after God's own heart. I mean it's hard to say that. Lincoln said, we don't claim to have God on our side but we strive to be on his. And that's the deal here. People who seek righteousness and the right thing are blessed and anointed. Our city is blessed. Our state will be blessed as we remove this scourge and plague of killing innocent children in the womb."

Pro-choice Tennesseeans seem to take such ravings in stride.

Two abortion clinics operate in Nashville "so maybe that's why we had this thousand-year flood," Planned Parenthood's Jeff Teague says.

Teague was asked how Wamp could claim the god-botherers had kept abortion clinics out of Chattanooga.

"He's probably talking about the usual intimidation and terrorist tactics" employed by abortion foes all over the country, Teague says.

Wamp is a Tea-Bagger, of course, pro-gun, anti-immigrant, pro-armed insurrection, anti-climate change, yada-yada.

Oh, look here:

Shortly after leaving college, and after a stay in a substance abuse program, Wamp married his wife Kim and, switching denominations, became an active member in one of Chattanooga's more politically active Baptist churches where he began to hone his political skills and build his religious right political base.

Substance-abusing, anti-abortion, gun nut. And one more thing -- a C Streeter.

In April 2003, the Associated Press reported that Wamp was one of six Congressman living in a Capitol Hill townhouse subsidized by The Family, a national Christian organization.

On July 10, 2009, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Wamp admitted in an interview that he and his fellow residents at C Street have all pledged that they won't talk about their private living arrangements, adding that he intends to honor that pledge. When Rachel Maddow repeated the story on her show, Wamp complained, but the Knoxville News Sentinel stated that Wamp did not call them to correct his comment. Maddow responded strongly to Wamp's complaints on air.

Now, from Nevada, running against Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, is another Tea-Bagging whackaloon, Sharron Angle.

Honorable Tea Party voters might ask why Karl Rove has thrown his corrupt, Bush-style politics behind the Sharron Angle campaign for Nevada senator. Honorable Tea Party voters might also ask why Angle comes to Washington, in virtual secrecy, hidden from Nevada voters, to meet with old-style Bush-friendly Republican insiders to study the tricks of the dirty political trade.

I have always tried to be fair to Ron Paul. I agree with Paul on some matters, such as auditing the Fed, and disagree with Paul on other matters. But let’s be clear, agree with him or not, Ron Paul is the real deal, a serious thinker with serious ideas on serious issues.

Sharron Angle is just a political kook who takes weird positions on issues and has been seeking high office unsuccessfully in the past. Can any serious person believe that abortion causes breast cancer? Even many Nevada Republicans are running away from Angle.

Besides believing abortion causes breast cancer, she has a number of other, er, interesting ideas. A homeskooling nut, she wants to dissolve the federal Department of Education. This, apparently, has something to do with the fact that one of her children failed kindergarten.

Gun-nut, pro-armed insurrection, anti-immigrant, anti-climate change, you know, the usual.

I'm guessing, though, that if the good people of Nevada take leave of their senses and elect her, she won't be a C-Streeter. That's exclusively a boyz club.

Beggar Me

Or, make me spend $100.

In my circles I'm known as a tightwad*.

But, over at the CRUSH (Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper) Facebook page, it was just announced that a donation challenge issued by Lexy Cameron had been met. She had offered to match $100 in donations from NEW donors and now she's going to have to pony up.

I thought that was a good idea, so I just renewed it. Donate here and when the total gets to $100, I'll match it.

You remember CRUSH, that radical anti-Harper group.



*One memorable phrase is 'commitedly thrifty'.

In a nutshell, Stevie's maternal health initiative.

One of our great readers provided a link to this graphic; the moment to display it has arrived. The text says

"Abortions cost Canada millions per year. The Conservatives will do it for less!

Our women's maternal health policies ensure murderous mothers get abortions the way God intended: in back alleys and garages by car mechanics, veterinarians and other beasts of the underworld.

In African conflicts, rape is an effective weapon for genocide, so long as we don't fund abortions.

A woman's life is second to an unborn child. Let God solve complications, not medical professionals.

What choice do you need? a message from the [Harper] government of Canada."

Divide the Religious Right

Canadian (Catlick) LifeShite sniffs: 'Trend Shows National Association of Evangelicals Joining Contraception Bandwagon'. Oooh, contraception is a bandwagon, is it?

The National Association of Evangelicals appears to be shifting away from its neutral stance on contraception in favor of a qualified endorsement of a practice. A new survey released by the NAE, which claims to represent 45,000 evangelical churches, reveals that Evangelical pastors overwhelmingly believe in artificial forms of contraception.

Qualified? Ninety (90) per cent of evangelical leaders are 'open' to both barrier and hormonal contraception.

“Most associate evangelicals with Catholics in their steady leadership in pro-life advocacy, and rightly so,” said Leith Anderson, president of the NAE, in a press release. “But it may come as a surprise that unlike the Catholic church, we are open to contraception.”

They did their own survey and released the results. Another poll, by Gallup in 2009, supports the numbers.

Evangelicals are overwhelmingly OK with contraception. Who knew?

Also this past week, Ted Haggard, past-president of said National Association of Evangelicals and 'survivor' of a narsty homo paid sex and drugs scandal, announced his new church.

Since the scandal, Haggard has undergone intensive therapy and has emerged as someone who claims to be heterosexual with "homosexual attachments" or urges that he says are now under control. With that kind of background, it made sense for reporters to ask whether his church would welcome gays and lesbians. Haggard was adamant that yes, they would be welcomed, saying: "I would tell them to study the scriptures. I would tell them to explore that with God. It is an individual walk for them."

Zow. Contraception- and gay-friendly. This ain't your Old Timey Religion. Though WTF it is remains to be seen. But, hey, anything to divide the right is okey dokey with us.

Jesus, He's Everywhere

Images of Jesus turn up in the darnedest places. On toast, potato chips, grilled cheese sandwiches. (Hm, what is it about Jesus and food, especially junk food?)

He's also been known to appear on small household appliances.

And, of course, who could forget Dog-Butt Jesus?



Now Christianists in the UK have stirred the abortion advert pot with Ultrasound Jesus.



Supposedly a Christmas campaign (the text reads: He’s on His Way: Christmas starts with Christ), some see it as a not-very-subtle anti-abortion message.

'It's not', the Christianists say and add: 'Like, what's up with you secularists, seeing anti-abortion messages on everything -- toast and Cheetos and dog butts? Are you nuts?'

Fake Lake = Fab Fun!

Even the NatPo is spanking Stevie over Fake Lake. Tasha Kheiriddin:

But have the Conservatives finally jumped the shark? As with any party in power, even a minority, arrogance and complacency eventually set in, this time, in the tragi-comic form of the now-notorious fake lake. The lake symbolizes everything that is wrong with this government: a focus on optics, rather than reality. It’s what they want you to see, not what is really there, like scripting Message Event Proposals for Afghan aid workers, stonewalling on freedom of information requests, or cutting government cheques with big Conservative party logos on them.

Altogether, the best thing I've read in that rag for years. But just let me fix something in that last paragraph, Tasha.

The Conservatives should be mindful that it’s not just the rest of the world that is watching; voters at home seem to be finally waking up as well. After riding high in the polls for months, Conservative poll numbers are starting to slip, and talk of a Liberal-NDP Coalition is in the works. Let’s hope the combination of these factors will bring this government down to earth. Mr. Harper should remember that governing Canada isn’t a reality TV show; for voters, it is real life, unscripted.

There. Much better.

3 points about this putative Lib/NDP merger.

1. It's an awfully messy and convoluted way for the Libs to dump Iggy, doncha think? I thought their backroom boys kept a stash of well-sharpened knives for any and all occasions.

2. Math deficiency meets magical thinking. What strategist in his or her right mind would assume that the outcome of a Lib/NDP mashup would equal the sum of their polling numbers? NDP's 17.4 + Lib's 26.2 = 43.6 .... who's been smoking crystal meth?

3. "Secret" talks are usually kept in the backrooms. There's a whole lot of yapping going on; loose lips sink ships. The usual suspects may be deliberately trying to scuttle Iggy's leadership but the potential for this bad science project to blow up whatever is left of the LPC should be an urgent concern for any rational thinker who hasn't deserted. As for the NDP - does anyone there with two brain cells to rub together think this will enhance their credibility with voters? Are they simply so thrilled they're being courted by The Big Boys that they've taken MASSIVE leave of any good sense they may have once had?