Outrage

Some of us are still shaking our fists at Hollywood's not-so-secret homosexual agenda, on its gaudiest display during Monday's Golden Globes. Bad enough all the unmarried pregnant whores starlets were flashing their bosoms in gowns made by designers who couldn't shoot straight to save their lives but viewers were also subjected to movie about mincing authors and not-so-lonesome cowboys.

Here in the Great Pink North where all that gay stuff is accepted, if not universally at least legally, practicing homosexualists are in a panic over the prospect of a Conservative government. Not just because the burgeoning same sex wedding tourism industry will collapse but also because they fear a ''Holy War on Homos." Which is why the gay and lesbian weekly Xtra! pulled its planned cover for today at the last minute for this one, while editor/publisher David Walberg fired off a scathing editorial:

Canadians are so desperate to turf the long-governing Liberals that they’re willing to envision in Stephen Harper’s new hairdo a completely changed man. We have become immune to the regurgitated quotes of yore that reveal his many and significant bigotries, preferring to believe he instructed the barber to trim those along with his top and sides.  We’ve heard how much more “prime ministerial” Harper has appeared in this election campaign.

But as much as the phrase Scary Stephen now rings desperate and hollow, I ask you to consider behaviour and attitudes that surely most Canadians would find deeply regrettable in a prime minister.  You’ll be relieved to know, I hope, that I won’t dig up the distant past; instead, I’ll use but one example of words and deeds, expressed and committed by the man himself, not merely once but repeatedly, and all within the past year. Fair enough?

Walberg then rattles through Stephen Harper's recent attempts to forge bonds with anti-gay elements in Canada's various cultural and religious communities, concluding

Canada’s gay communities have rarely known political leaders to be our champions. But I can’t recall another leader who so actively tried to turn religious people against their gay fellow citizens.

It’s one thing for Stephen Harper, the nutty right-wing opposition leader, to conduct himself thus. But imagine Stephen Harper, freshly trimmed and beturtlenecked, as our prime minister: goading the faithful, exploiting misunderstandings, fomenting bigotry, shredding the social fabric. It’s shameful, reprehensible and menacing.

We could have done without the ''beturtlenecked'' fashion observation -- so Queer Eye! -- but Walberg clearly has the straight goods on Harper.

Comments

[Jay Currie]

What Harper has said is that he'll have a free vote on SSM in the Commons.

Now, while I think this is incredibly dumb and that Harper and the CPC are wasting their breath on SSM if they are not willing to use the notwithstanding clause to over ride what will almost certainly be a SCC rejection of any law rolling back legal SSM, it is hardly,

"goading the faithful, exploiting misunderstandings, fomenting bigotry, shredding the social fabric. It’s shameful, reprehensible and menacing."

Majority or minority, people like David Walberg, Buzz Hargrove and Maude Barlow need to get a grip. The over the top rhetoric may have worked last time out; this time it just sounds shrill and self-serving.

[20/20]

It is late in the game for those who find their Harper information via MSM, but the following are some quotes from a feature Walrus Magazine article on the man behind Steven Harper---not some revered ancestor,btw, but his long-time mentor, friend, and chief of staff. IMO, Flanagan's pronouncements on aboriginal rights amount to giving our aboriginal brethren the right to assimilation into a culture not their own, because they were conquered. Old colonial stew served up again. And he might just tell Quebec to take off and be quick about it!

From Walrus Magazine, about Tom Flanagan, who is Harper's mentor and Chief of Staff... excerpts below... long article here: http://www.walrusmagazine.com/article.pl?sid=05/05/09/2119243

--

[Bill-Muskoka]

So, here is how the true neo-con views go regarding religious issues, trust me...I was there at one time and know.

The entire thrust of their beliefs are based on the 1611 version of the committee selected books of the King James Bible.

Constantine, and the Roman Church carefully chose what the 'truth' would be. Here are some of the realities, and yes, I have a very strong spiritual faith.

Much of this comes from Peter (the Apostle who hated women, hence the male dominated church hierarchy of the Vatican).

1. We must create a faith that we control.

2. Women must be excluded.

3. We will tell the masses what is truth and they will either accept it or be hunted down and killed.

4. Lets really warp the story of Sodom and Gomorrah to paint homosexuals as the worst possible group.

5. Marriage is as we say it is.

Reality Check!

1. Ooops a little problem. The Protestant Reformation led by Catholic priests. They, like Martin Luther, were quite literate and acknowledged the gross discrepancies.

2. Women had always been part of the Judaic hierarchy. They led nations, were priestesses, and held in the highest esteeme as equals by the Druids, and most civilizations, except Rome.

3. It was known as the Inquisition and Crusades. They are still going on today.

4. The homosexuals spoken of were outright predators, not the type who peacefully co-exist and share all the same values of love, caring, societal participation. Homosexuality has been around for millenia, and the world has survived quite well.

5. Marriage is not even discussed in the Bible other than saying a 'bishop should be the husband of one wife', the marriage feast at Cana (they brought out the fine wine for all, instead of serving them water). The Judaic marriage was a totally different form than what people know today. For instance, the ones carrying the Davidic line had very strick rules regarding copulation, times of birth, etc..

In short, the views of the neo-cons are based on a false interpretation of true scripture. Much of it came from the book 'Universal History' a 42 volume work published in 1779 in England.

The teachings have not been corrected to conform to known truths, such as the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls.

The entire movement is based on a blind faith taught to the masses for centuries, without question.

To my thinking and belief, the greatest obligation a person has is to truth. If the accepted truth is challenged, then after careful consideration, one must revise their thinking and come to understand reality.

We have struggled for centuries to be freed from those who would use us for their own benefit. We should remember from whence we came and not return along the path to a past ridden with inequality, hatred, and fear.

No one, other than we Canadians should be allowed to choose our government and laws. No special interest group, NGO, nation, or the Vatican. It is our responsibility, as citizens, to know what people really stand for.

The Greeks made democratic participation mandatory by law. Do Stand Up for Canada... VOTE, but choose wisely.

[Dana]

Jay, just how *do* you see Harper dealing with the socon contingent in his party? Or with the hard western Reform coningent for that matter. Admittedly there's some overlap, they're not always distinct from one another.

He's going to have to let them pursue *something* for the sake of simple political expediency or he'll be risking a schism.

Also he can't be seen as lending them no support whatever for the same reason.

There could conceivably be a Holy Rump soon.

[True North]

What does it matter - he looks prime-ministerial in a turtle neck!

Reminds me of the 2000 US election where we heard over and over how GWB had the advantage because he was "comfortable in his own skin"!

[Flea]

Jay, Stephen Harper has said he will not invoke the notwithstanding clause because he believes he will not have to. Of course, in the eventuality the courts bar him I imagine it is remotely possible his current rhetoric about "liberal bias" in judicial appointments may come in handy in changing his mind.

Xtra's rhetoric only sounds over the top if it isn't your marriage that is under threat. Personally, I think Mr. Harper's statements and commitments are over the top. The difference is that one set of opinions come from the local gay newspaper and the other from someone set to become my next Prime Minister.

[Ti-Guy]

Yes it really is "shrill and self-serving" when people are concerned that their rights are going to be taken away; gays, women, aboriginal people, linguistic minorities...all shrill and self-serving. Shrill. And. Self-serving.

People who dismiss such things as "shrill and self-serving" do not, in fact, have much respect democracy and human rights. That they are so comfortable in proclaiming that fact so loudly is what I find unusual.

[Hack]

Errr ... Antonia ... did someone hijack your blog at the top of this post? It sounded disturbingly homophobic and neo-con. Is it a joke that I am missing?

[Antonia Z.]

Hack,

I was being ironical. I hope everybody gets the joke. I would be mortified if they don't.

Antonia

[Ivan Prokopchuk]

Bill Muskoka,
You're almos always on the mark, but "everyone must revise their thinking"?
Kinda pluralistic thinking if you ask me. State-sponsored group-think. If I could make legal hamburgers like the famous Kottler!
That's where it starts.
I am no great fan of Elie Wiesel, the hunter of antique Nazis,neither of Nazis themselves, but he did he not Wiesel say that once language goes to hell, so does everything else?
I think you've been brainwashed by the old MSM. And Hollywood?

[Bill-Muskoka]

Ivan,

I have read your posts, and usually have deep respect for your opinion as well.

However, believe this. I am not brainwashed by anyone. I have spent over 40 years in research and honest assessment of beliefs and principles. A mob does not make a right...just a mob.

I, also, think and believe, that 'one's' (what I said, not 'EVERYONE' as you misquoted), must take themselves to task, individually, and personally, to seek out truth. No finger pointing allowed BTW! Remember, that when we point our fingers four point back. That little trick has been exhausted by most of the parties for too long as well.

Note, I have not told anyone what to believe or think, but only to seek out the truth.

They, of course can merely continue feeding from the very filtered MSM, or whatever cranks their clock. How about 'Survivor' or some other reality TV show?

That, unfotunately, puts the onus on the individual to read, study, research, ask hard questions. It takes 'love' for truth and freedom. Too many are merely satisfied with 'free-dumb'!

I watched the process develop since about the 1970's in the States. Today, that once great nation, has been reduced to a lot of an electoral majority (at the last election) of babbling fools. I do not want to see that happen to my Canada. I think their elections this year will show the people have opened their eyes, but at what terrible cost to millions?

I support no political party because none speak full truth. This election I have decided to vote for change, to stir the pot as it were, and hopefully see some fresh thinking enter our Parliament. I think many are thinking the same thing, but only their vote will tell come 10PM Monday.

Sheep were used as exempliars to portray how people too often behave!

[Mach Stelmacher]

Bill Muskoka,

Great little article I cut and pasted
on my blog that mentions sheep if youre
interested. Also just so happens
to mention wolves.

Feel free to add a comment as well.

Peace out.

About the outrage, where were all these
screaming conservative right winging nut
anti-gay protestors when George Micheal
was on Oprah Winfrey and David Bowie
announced he was 1nce in a bed with Mick
Jagger and Elton John announced he was
gay? Sounds like a vicious double standard
..out of sight out of mind is my rule of thumb. Personally I dont like Ellen Degeneres
or Mellisa Ethridge but you'll never hear
me complain once.

Not to mention we have already seen
Al Pacino, Tom Hanks and Antonio
Banderas act gay (Banderas twice-lol)
so this is hardly something to get your
knickers in a knot over..same ol' political
expediency reek.

[Ivan Prokopchuk]

Looks like Mach avoided Mach 1 on this one.
Nothing to get excited about. I am naturally flattered that Bill Muskoka reads my post.
Sheep? The current piece is on goats--The Man himself in this dark age?
I'm sure that Bill's forty years of research should show we are no great shakes.

[Adam]

Jay, according to Walberg's editorial (linked to by Antonia), Harper has said a lot of things besides the unfulfillable promise of a "free vote".

Quoting Walberg:
"In February, Harper took his crusade to a Toronto gathering of Sikhs, where he instructed the crowd to view gay marriage as a menace to their faith, their culture and their place in Canada. "This is a threat to any Canadian who supports multiculturalism," he told them. "It is a threat to a genuinely multicultural country"
...
"He appealed far and wide last year, specifically to those who are "Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh or Muslim. All of these cultural communities, rooted in those faiths, will find their position in society marginalized" if gay couples are allowed civil weddings. He promised that legalizing same-sex marriage would be only the beginning of battles that "will limit and restrict their freedom to honour their faith and their cultural practices."

This is what he points to when he speaks of a political leader "goading the faithful, exploiting misunderstandings, fomenting bigotry, shredding the social fabric."

[Jay Currie]

Flea, as you know we agree on the legitimacy of gay marriage and I will join you on the barricades in the even that,

a) the socons win the free vote,
b) Harper does more than appoint a committee to examine the legislative options,
c) that committee reports that there is a basis in law for passing a "marriage is one man one woman" statute,
d) the Senate allows that law to stand,
e) the SCC rules that the legislation is unconsitutional and,
e) Harper and the CPC attempt to enforce it without using the notwithstanding clause.

(I might add that it would be virtually impossible for the CPC to get a bill which invoked notwithstanding on SSM through the Senate. Many of their own Senators would vote against it...but it is never going to get that far.)

At this point, SSM is a done deal and with the exception of a few homophobic wackos in the nether reaches of the CPC's back benches, there is not a huge groundswell of political will to change that deal.

[Elvid]

I hope that Walberg had a couple of Miltowns to calm himself after writing this editorial.
A little overheated for my tastes. I still think that he will be able to get in his morning latte Tuesday morning rather than packing for a reeducation camp in Temagami.
Lots of concerns among Christians and and non-Christian communites that the federal government can not be trusted to hold its promise to allow them to prohibit religious gay marriages.
And Martin,himself, seems to have flipflopped on this with his stance on the "notwithstanding" clause.
Blaming Harper for the doctrinal beliefs of the churches that most Canadians seems ridiculous. Would have been opposition to gay marriage with or without Stephen Harper.
Harper's view on civic unions seems not much different than Tony Blair and John Kerry.
Seems obfuscation at best. If it looks like a duck, talks like a duck then, it is a duck.
As Oscar Wilde said a long time ago, "Rich bachelors should be heavily taxed. It is not fair that some men should be happier than others"

[Mach Stelmacher]

BTW 20/20

I get my native heritage through my mother.

I 'll tell you all how lost I am on my aboriginal
identity, ever since in Grade Eight my ears burned red when I suddenly became the center of attention in Social Studies class ("Hey guess what?! Youre a native,dude! Didnt you know that? Wow..unreal or what"...in which my response was somewhere in between "huh" and "What does this have to do with the Diet of Wurms?") and also when I was given status through a Bill called C-31 three to four years later, its been a struggle.

Only recently has it begun to feel like a journey...so how lost I am? I can't
even get a date to go see a film called
'The New World' which opens tommorow.

Its like
being a black man in the fifties except where once upon a time a woman had class for going against the grain and
dating a black man to slap societys cheek and infuriate poppa, these days it is no longer so de rigeur.

Makes me wonder if really all the money
padding on Assembly of First Nations budget really does make Phil Fontaine more closely aligned with Paul Martin for that reason alone.

I cant stand seeing natives go through the
motions of bitching and moaning and complaining at the same time as they
lift their mouth from the government trough.

University education, flights across the
country..I know one native/Metis woman
so cozy with a mill owner here in BC, he bought her a brand luxury new car as a gift.

And they have the gaul to think that they
stand for the average in-the-poor-house
native. You gotta get in with it with them
and never forget it could be you over
them anytime anyplace.

I was once scheduled to appear before the
Standing Comittee on Aboriginal Affairs
in regards to the introduction of an Accountablity Act...and if I were allowed
to speak (they bobbled my scheduled appointment slot but oh-wtf I couldnt make it anyway!!) I would have
been pounding my fist on the table demanding
that the government demand accountablity from
all the money that goes to their creation
called DIA..not literally of course.

I faxed them my letter when it was apparent
I could not make it, and they were as part of their protocols and accordances, supposed to read it out...of course I will never know if they did.

Apparently if you were a 'good boy' or a 'good girl' in residential school and
ratted out your school mates for rattling
in your Mother tongue which always brought punishment, you were rewarded and guided along..right up to graduation, college/university and right on up to the plum job with the Dept of Indian Affairs.

Thats why when '60 Minutes' wants to do
a show on this issue, they get stonewalled
at DIA. If you were a native, would you risk
getting fired for speaking out against your
employer?

There was even a University Professor from the University of British Columbia who 'started talking' to his co-workers and peers about his experiences...I dont know
what they encouraged him to do..whether they plyed him with liquor and slapped his back
or told him to shush or told him to get help..point is he killed himself and to this
day there hasnt been a damn thing said about his sorry life.

And that was years before the first whisper, hint or rumour or allegation of abuse leading to lawsuits started coming out to hit the press from these jails masking as learning institutions.

Someone definitely needs to come clean..were they instruments of on honest minded government providing education..or extensions of genocide?

Two years ago, ON NATIONAL TV, from coast to coast, in fact broadcast around the world,
church representatives were mouthing apologies to cameras not just for burying
children in graves...but for making mere
children...i.e. forcing small kids, to pick
up shovels and bury their dead classmates.

Its not ancient Columbus Day history or from Dickens era, its
within the last generation. Now what
poilitical party is willing to make an
ad and say....x years ago these government
funded schools were forcing children to bury their own..in Canada...IN Canada...in Canada..in Canada..in Canada?

All this focus on whether or not two men
or two women can partake in this long
lasting institution previously only
available to opposite sex peoples kind of takes on lesser significance in the scheme of things when you want to talk about its
real impact.

You stole the right for half my living
relatives to have a decent adequate education like ever other Canadian, the least you could do is provide an ample recompense to allow me to fulfill the right they were denied.

I believe in education because I have counted
the cost of going without. And if PM PM's
government wants to make amends for shortfalls of governments of the past, he
has inclined ears all around.

But apparently if Harper waffles around
on Health Care, changing his mind, where does he truly stand on everything outside of the damn two percent reduction of the damn GST? Is his party behind him or does he stand behind the principles of his party?

The Libs know where they are at. The
Conservs apparently dont.

http://www.turtleisland.org/news/elect2004.htm

[Kenn Chaplin]

Liberals have no one but themselves to blame for this election. Does anyone not see how these late-arrival champions of the Charter (those who did not vote against SSM anyway) only acted when the courts forced them? It would take years to unravel this and I'm not worried if the Liberals have to be on the sidelines choosing some new leadership.

[Bill-Muskoka]

Mach,

Thank you. I read the entire article and it is well stated. I note the following quote near the end and want to make an observation regarding its import:

"Over the past 20 years, Canada has become a place where merely speaking truth to power is a considered a revolutionary act. Over the past 20 years, our people have come to dread liberty because it demands responsibility."

That is precisely my time line reference as well. There was a movement, started in the mid-1970's, that was called by various names, i.e., 'evangelical', 'Born Again', etc..

What, with the benefit of hindsight, seems to have happened is basically this. Following the wars of WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, and the worldwide advent of globalism, the masses collectively saw that things had spun out of control for the future.

This led, as historically it does, the a rise in 'God save our arses' and there were, as there always have been, and probably will be, those with large egos, a little knowledge, and an opportunity to speak, who started telling people, in so many words, sublimely, 'Give up! The world is beyond repair and only Jesus can save you now!'

FUD (Fear Uncertainty, and Doubt) have been the weapons of the elite for millenia. We must stop, anaylize the root causes, and find the solutions to our societal and economic problems.

Then we must, using the democratic process we still have, select people to represent us in government who serve our community at large, not a narrow spectrum of the community.

In other words, we must critique the candidates, not just the party. We must also hold them accountable, and they must respond as a person to our inquiries. If they do not, then we rid ourselves of them.

Likwise, as your blog tells the story of the Soviet experience, 'Big Brother' (a term that has come to portray the negative aspects), can be benevolent or malevolent.

We need central federal control on many issues to ensure all Canadians receive their just share and benefit from our collective effort. We, likewise, need wise leadership at the lower government levels to address the localized details that make a program work or fail.

The federal level should use a broad spectrum approach, with basics principles and firm foundations. The provincial and territorial levels take those basic foundations and address specific issues to assure the broad principles are maintained.

I think you can carry forth the progression to the individual. I do not call that malevolent Big Brother, but rather, sound leadership wrought from the representatives of the people. Its nice to know, especially when the school yard bully comes around, that your Big Brother is there to back you up, eh?

So, the quest for provincial control of international matters, while sounding good, is an issue that raises potential threats to others in our country.

If, i.e., the U.S. violates its trade agreements on softwood lumber, closes its border for purely political reasons to our beef, then how can our government respond when we have people like Ralph Klein acting unilaterally to control the most important commodity the U.S. needs, our oil and gas?

That is but one example. What will Quebec want to take under control? Perhaps electricity depriving Ontario and the Maritimes of power? Maybe selling Bombardier to Boeing? The end result is the neutering of the nation at the federal level.

When Condoliar Rice said 'Our word is good as gold!' I choked, remembering how Nixon took the U.S. off the gold standard. Oil is the standard today! We had better start thinking like OPEC soon. It is about Canada's well being, not the U.S..

I could go on about the automotive trade, minerals, etc., but we all know the issues. I just hope an occassional refresher on them keeps them in people's minds.

The bottom line remains...It is about people, not profits. Dead people benefit not from earthly wealth.

Have a great day.

[Bill-Muskoka]

Ivan,

Goats? LMAO! We are starting to get a tad kinky there don't you think?

Let's not take this into the barnyard, the ground gets reall sticky there, eh? Have a great day Ivan!

BTW, you said 'shakes' did you mean 'snakes'? Maybe its just too little java this morning! :-)

[Bill-Muskoka]

Ivan,

I saw your link (I seldom go to links due to time allotments) and read your posting on the 'goat'. I shall read more of your blog regularly. Thank Antonia's 'thanks' to you for bringing it to my attention.

[Anonalogue]

"but Walberg clearly has the straight goods on Harper."

No he does not. And "clearly" is a Liberal buzzword, a "tell" in the poker vernacular, indicating a high probability of dishonesty. It's Harper Time, and Liberal buzzwords like "clearly" don't play anymore.

Walberg's hate screed is dishonest to a comical degree, hysterical, anti-religion, anti-immigrant, and on the whole disturbingly angry and hateful. I'd like to register my shock and outrage that The Star would run this garbage verbatim, let alone accompanied by an endorsement.

I doubt very much that mainstream Canadians outside of Inner-City Toronto would share Walberg's savagely anti-heterosexual hatred; I suggest our good but misguided friend spend a few days in a Jamaican shantytown, or perhaps Foxwarren, Manitoba, in order to gain fresh perspective.

Listen to The Pope and The Dalai Lama: In truth, peace. No truth, no peace. And right now the gay extremists are so angry, so hateful, and ultimately so dishonest that I don't think they even want peace.

I'm going to make a prediction: I say it's better than even money that within the next 60 days or so a gay extremist seriously assaults a Conservative MP, possibly with intent to kill. Given the lack of consequences for criminal actions for certain types of people in Canada (Svend Robinson., Paul Coffin, Dorothy Joudrie, Karla Homolka) and the increasing viciousness and palpable hatred I see every day coming from homosexuals I can't see how all that pent-up hate can result in anything but violence.

[Ivan Prokopchuk]

Too much coffee this morning. Can't tell who posted what. The native guy (Max?): You have indeed have had a Diet of Worms, as have your people on this continent.
Here and there, there is a profound ripple of accomplishment as in Mr.Proulx's Beyond Words on APTN (I love it, steal from it for content); the music is great as is the ever
returning documentary featuring Robbie Robertson, The Last Waltz. Save for small
copyediting you write at a Master's level;you have somehow gleaned an education.

As something of an Ausslander in my youth here in Canada, I can easily identify with parts of your life, the beatings on the playground and the beatings at home for speaking English. I was white, sure, but the post-traumatic stress of being repeatedly bombed in Europe made it a nervous and alienating whiteness. It wasn't until I got to Toronto and its great institutions that I became aware of what top editor Gerry Anglin was telling me: "Like any healthy society, we absorb
our dissident elements." This sounds funny in 2006 and perhaps distasteful to aboriginal folks, but it made me feel better.
I really believe that this might be the time of the aboriginal artist. Not just the traditional stuff but cutting edge and I'm seeing signs of it all around. You guys know things, know things about Canada that our current writers and musicians can only hint at. Lightfoot comes close. But think of his name...?
What you wrote approaches a mini-masterpiece.
Thank you.

[Ivan Prokopchuk]

Bill Muskoka,
I have picked up quite a few reders on my site after an initial zen slap experience with those readers.
Welcome to the site. Contribute something if you like.

[20/20]

Mach Stelmacher:

Thank you for your post and for the link: http://www.turtleisland.org/news/elect2004.htm
I hope many people will take the time to read it in its entirety.