It is always easier to dispel some characterization when it is given absolutely; not just as a generalization, not just as something that exists for some people, but as something that is always true. In this case, one merely needs to find a single counterexample to disprove the claim. Polygamy is one of those subjects
Continue readingTag: bigotry
Bully Away The Gay is A-OK, According To Religious Wingnuts
Religious zealots like the Charles McVetys of this world are getting more certifiable by the day as they pervert religion further. Well, now some of these zealots have really outdone themselves this time around as they are opposing an anti-bullying bill tabled by the McGuinty government, as they think it’s
Continue readingDecember 6, 22nd Anniversary of the Polytechnique Massacre–With Every Passing Year, We Seem To Keep Going Backward
Here we are again, boys ‘n’ girls, another somber December 6; another year has come and gone and it is time again to commemorate the Polytechnique Massacre when fourteen young women’s lives were lost at the hands of a deranged misogynist. For the two plus years since I’ve started Sister
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Has the War on Bullying Finally Begun?
It’s taken a lot of dead Canadian kids. Kids like Marjorie Raymond. “I have a hard time leaving this world,” she wrote her suicide letter, “but I think it will be for a better world.” But it looks as if the Great War on Bullying has finally begun. McGuinty said school
Continue readingAaron Rand, You Still Think You’re Comfortable With Warrantless Online Spying? That Your Final Answer?
I remember when that hideous dumb on crime omnibus bill was first tabled and the noon hour “Free For All” show, starring Ric Petersen, Aaron Rand and of course, Tea-baggin’ Tommy Schnurmacher, on CJAD was discussing that very lunacy. One frightening thing that came out of Aaron Rand’s mouth stuck
Continue readingA dislike of Islam and muslims most prominent among conservatives?
I have to begin by saying that I have no conclusive evidence that shows that disike of Islam and muslims in general runs highest among conservative ranks. That people on the right of the political spectrum somehow protest against Islam more than those on the left or in the center. But
Continue readingwmtc: fbi "mapping": racial and ethnic profiling at the highest levels of so-called law enforcement
I just received this from the ACLU. I will run it here verbatim, except for a few extraneous bits. This is racial and ethnic profiling at its most extreme. If the top law “enforcement” agency in the US does this, how can the police departments of New Y…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Marc Lee charts the share of financial assets held by Canadians of different income levels. And it shouldn’t come as much surprise that one of the main aims of the right has been to attack pensions, which are by…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament In Review: October 7, 2011
Friday, October 7 was the last day in the House of Commons before the week-long Thanksgiving break. And there was plenty to chew on as MPs left their final mark before heading home.The Big IssueThe main point of debate was once again the economy as the…
Continue readingDefining hate speech tough job for Supreme Court of Canada in Bill Whatcott case
I have personally never met Bill Whatcott, nor have I seen him talk in front of a camera, so it would be impossible for me to judge whether Mr. Whatcott is a homophobe and a bigot. I don’t really know whether him distributing anti-gay pamphlets and calling homosexuals sodomizers and child molesters
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Get Out the Vote: Defeat the Loser Hudak
He waved his daughter like a flag, he used her like a cheap prop. While attacking programs aimed at protecting bullied gay children. Like a homophobic hog. He called new immigrants “foreigners.” Like some burning racist from Alabama. He vowed…
Continue readingwmtc: wikileaks: mentally ill canadian citizen held in bagram prison for 18 months, and counting
This morning CBC News reports that WikiLeaks has exposed that a Canadian is being held at the notorious Bagram prison, the US-run torture camp and holding tank for Afghans who were either trying to defend their country from foreign invaders or were in …
Continue readingwmtc: racism and police brutality put london, ontario in the spotlight
Way to go, London, Ontario. Two days ago, most people outside Canada didn’t know there was another London. Now everyone has heard of the one in Ontario, first from an ugly, racist incident during a hockey game, and then from an equally ugly – but far m…
Continue readingwmtc: xenophobia and racism, such an easy itch to scratch
Yesterday I purchased something from a small, independently-owned store near where I live in Mississauga. I was the only customer there; the only person working was the owner, a brown-skinned man who spoke thickly accented English. A business card on t…
Continue readingwmtc: this just in: racism in the u.s. now less obvious
Landmark Civil Rights Act Made Racism Slightly Less Overt (Season 1: Ep 3 on IFC)
Continue readingwmtc: 9.11.11: an anti-remembrance
Ten years on. Ten years of Islamophobia, endless war, the open rationalization of torture and massacre. Ten years of surveillance, insidiously creeping police state, witch hunts, shredding of personal freedoms. Nine years of torture, medical experiment…
Continue readingHarper Sounds Islamophobic Dog Whistle, Again, Just In Time to Commemorate 9/11
In another move back in time, Stevie Spiteful plans to reintroduce two anti-terror clauses that were originally introduced in 2001, but expired in 2007. Here they are!
One allowed police to arrest suspects without a warrant and detain them for three days without charges if police believed a terrorist act may have . . . → Read More: Harper Sounds Islamophobic Dog Whistle, Again, Just In Time to Commemorate 9/11
Continue readingThis drama with the Catholic school system reminds me of a Mel Brooks moment
I’m sorry, I just can’t help it sometimes.It’s probably not the most famous or best-remembered scene from Blazing Saddles (and in truth, it’s got a lot of competition), but in light of the Catholic school system’s way of dealing with gay and lesbian st…
Continue readingAll this Catholic-school business reminds me of a Mel Brooks moment
I’m sorry, I just can’t help it sometimes.It’s probably not the most famous or best-remembered scene from Blazing Saddles (and in truth, it’s got a lot of competition), but in light of the Catholic school system’s way of dealing with gay and lesbian st…
Continue readingThe Catholic school system needs to get its hands out of our pockets
And that’s just for starters.The travesty that took place this week is common knowledge by now. Activist Leanne Iskander, who’s got more courage in her little finger than most people have in their whole bodies, has been threatened with disciplinar…
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