bennie Speaks . . . .

But should anyone listen?

From Global Post yesterday:

Pope Benedict XVI urges faithful to see through "superficial glitter" of Christmas

Pope Benedict XVI has urged worshipers to see through the "superficial glitter" of Christmas during the traditional Christmas Eve Mass at St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI lamented the commercialization of Christmas during the traditional Christmas Eve Mass at St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

“Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity,” he said, Euronews reported.

He went on to urge worshippers to "see through the superficial glitter of this season" and to discover its true meaning, "the child in the stable in Bethlehem," according to the BBC.

 

Of course, he was surrounded by the glittering gold in the pic above and in the article itself while making this astute observation.

No doubt wearing the nifty little red numbers to the left, also.

His hypocrisy knows no bounds . . . .

This week in shadenfruede, hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance

First, conservative propagandist Kory Teneycke finds someone has placed a pistol with a single round on his desk at voluntarily steps down from Quebecor Media for the good of the team. Thankfully, Rupert Murdoch-wannabe Pierre Karl Peladeau was able to find someone without any obvious political bias to replace Kory. How very fair and balanced of him.
The week got even better when PKP's Sun chain of "newspapers for people who can't read" found out there's no one "Better than Ezra" at getting them waist-deep in the big muddy of legal quicksand. I should probably start a betting pool on how long it takes for Ezra to complain that this is censorship and just another example of antiSemitism on the part of the radical left.
My personal favorite though, was lifelong professional politician John Baird, a graduate of Queens University (Canada's Yale) who has never had a job outside of politics either at Queens Park or Parliament Hill, blaming the failure of the Conservative government to get rid of the gun registry on "Toronto elites".
Uh, yeah, right, you just keep digging John. You really have to admire the balls of a secular, gay, vegetarian graduate of an elite university who grew up in the Ottawa suburbs and who has never had a real job, trying to make a what he thinks is a populist appeal to the perceived base of his party - angry, rural, religious, uneducated, blue collar, Toronto-hating Preston Manning fans from Alberta. Not that there is anything wrong with being any of those things, but Baird sort of reminds me of Alan Keyes and Ted Haggart.
Not to be outbrassed, Stephen Harper's office this week rapped the knuckles of the Parti Quebecois for criticizing the Montreal Canadiens over their lack of French-Canadian players and claiming the team was a tool of federalism.

"No political party should play wedge politics with the Montreal Canadiens," Dimitri Soudas, Mr. Harper's director of communications, said in an email.

It is only natural that Dimiti Soudas and Stephen Harper would object to anyone else playing wedge politics. After all, no one likes to see their monopoly threatened. Also, I'm curious as to why only the National Toast Post seems to think this story is major news and has had an endless stream of stories about the "controversey", while most other media outlets seem to be treating it as the silly-season one-day story that it is.

"Please your honour, have mercy on a poor orphan"

One of the advantages of being a conservative seems to be a willingness to engage in the most shameless of behaviours without the faintest scintilla of embarrassment or self-consciousness.


Exhibit A

"The whole concept of prison should be terminated, except for violent criminals and chronic non-violent recidivists, and replaced by closely supervised pro bono or subsistence-paid work by bonded convicts in the fields of their specialty. Swindlers and embezzlers, hackers and sleazy telemarketers are capable people and they should serve their sentences by contributing honest work to government-insured employers."

Imagine my amazement, Conrad "the sweetheart of cell block C" Black now thinks prisons are terrible places and that people convicted of fraud should not be incarcerated. How very, very convenient. I betcha Ted Bundy was opposed to capital punishment, too. Surprisingly, other than the aforementioned free ride for non-violent crimes, I mostly agree with Black's piece in the National Toast - somebody mark the day on calendar and check whether there is some kind of strange planetary alignment.


This, from the preceding paragraph, made me laugh out loud:

"The Canada I remember and look forward to returning to ..."

Oh, Lord Tubby of Fleet, how very droll of you -- how soon we forget.

Exhibit B

TORONTO, June 2 /CNW/ - Maclean's magazine in association with the Historica-Dominion Institute, L'actualité and Presenting Sponsor TD, celebrated the fourth annual Parliamentarians of the Year awards this evening on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Attended by members of Parliament, some of the country's most prominent journalists and other Canadians of note, the event honours Canada's top MPs, as voted by their peers in the House of Commons.

Almost 70 per cent of all members of Parliament from across all parties voted for this year's Parliamentarians of the Year. Winners and runners-up cross all political lines as well.

The award winners will be featured in a special issue of Maclean's hitting newsstands tomorrow, Thursday, June 3, and in L'actualité, on newsstands Friday, June 4. Full award results, photos, runners-up and methodology can also be found at macleans.ca/parliamentarians.

Parliamentarian of the Year

This year's Parliamentarian of the Year is the Hon. John Baird (Conservative), minister of transport, infrastructure and communities and MP for Ottawa West-Nepean. Mr. Baird was elected in 2006 and re-elected in 2008, the same year he was sworn in as minister of transport, infrastructure and communities.

Seriously. That would be this John Baird.  Yeah, this one, this stonewalling obstructionist douchbag. I can only guess that this award is a reaction to the snark shortage resulting from this. I won't even get into the matter of CTV getting Tom Flangan -Stephen Harper's former chief of staff - to come on and "analyze" Baird's behavior with a series of false equivalencies and outright apologetics. I'll just say that Walter Cronkite would not have invited Pat Buchanan or G. Gordon Liddy onto his newscast to analyze the Watergate hearings.

Crossposted from the Woodshed.

Christian right leader George Rekers takes vacation with "rent boy"

LANGUAGE LOG has a report by Mark Liberman, "Whatever lifts your luggage…" which outlines how an American bible-thumper, George Rekers, got caught with "Lucien", whom he met though a web site called rentboy.com. The Miami New Times article, by Penn  Bullock and Brandon K. Thorp, states

Reached by New Times before a trip to Bermuda, Rekers said he learned Lucien was a prostitute only midway through their vacation. "I had surgery," Rekers said, "and I can't lift luggage. That's why I hired him."

Then again, there could be other reasons:

The pictures on the Rentboy.com profile show a shirtless young man with delicate features, guileless eyes, and sun-kissed, hairless skin. The profile touts his "smooth, sweet, tight ass" and "perfectly built 8 inch cock (uncut)" and explains he is "sensual," "wild," and "up for anything" — as long you ask first. And as long as you pay. 

Tsk, tsk.

The new standard in shamelessness

In trying to defend the indefensible, a common neocon tactic is to go on the offensive with ad homenin attacks on the media carrying the story or on the source of the story. Sometimes this means villifying the victim, as the government of Canada has done with Abousfian Abdelrazik and Omar Khadr, sometimes this means trying to destroy the messenger as with the "revelation" that the investigator who uncovered the evidence that gives weight to the accusations against Helena Geurgis (whatever they are) has huge debts.
As dishonest a tactic as this is, it is generally accepted that it is part of the political spin game and will be attempted with varying degrees of shameless obviousness.
Even given all that, having a convicted fraud artist write - from jail no less - an attack on a news organization that  has long been considered the gold standard in journalistic credibility in order to defend the raping of altar boys and the popularity of hate merchants while at the same time blaming the press for the fall of Vietnam and attempting to rehabilitate the reputation of Richard Milhous Nixon -- well, that sets a new low in shamelessness and hypocrisy.
Well played, National Post. I'm sure a sinecure can be found for you at the National Review or someother wingnut welfare agency, or even within Lord Tubby's empire itself, when the magic hand of the marketplace finally gives your "newspaper" the finger.

Hat tip to Jim Dandy Goodness for reading the National Toast so that I don't have to.

World Wildlife Fund - WTF?

WWF : CIRCLE THE GLOBE
PREPARE TO BE ASTONISHED

"Now, aboard a specially outfitted private jet, you can travel around the world with people who work to protect Earth’s incredible diversity.
In 25 extraordinary days, travel to six of World Wildlife Fund’s top priority places.

In the world of private jet expeditionary travel, there’s simply no such thing as “good enough.” There is only extraordinary.

Your journey is designed for excellence at every level. A private car meets your commercial flight in London, charming local gifts grace your pillow at every destination, and exclusive events and access punctuate your entire experience. Each detail has been orchestrated with meticulous attention, just as you expect.

Only a private jet can bring you to so many places all in comfort, safety, and ease.
Just 19 rows of spacious leather seats with full ergonomic support.
Gourmet meals, chilled champagne, your own chef.
Personable, professional jet staff who welcome you back aboard after each stop."

"Astonished?" Astonished hardly covers it, WWF.
Do you think the rest of us are bicycling to work, wearing an extra sweater indoors, using those god-awful fluorescent light bulbs, and putting bricks in our toilet tanks - at your behest - so you can jet-set the Green elite to "enjoy the company of" endangered species?

You do put out a fabulous brochure for jet travel, I must admit.
Presumably we will see those same pictures in the calendars we get every year from those grassroots college students who go door-to-door selling WWF subscriptions on foot so as not to be hypocrites.

"A treasured trademark of TCS Expeditions journeys by private jet is the concept of “Surprise and Delight.”
The brilliant expedition team, behind the scenes and on the jet, is carefully orchestrating every detail of your extraordinary journey — and planning special surprises."

What's the "special surprise" carbon foot print here, WWF?
And what the fuck were you thinking?

h/t to the indefatigable Toe at BnR
Cross-posted at Creekside