Now for Some Good News

Good news. The evangelical movement in the US is deeply troubled that young people are "abandoning the faith in droves".

According to this NYT article one of the most influential evanglelical leaders, Ron Luce, says,

"“I’m looking at the data,” said Ron Luce, who organized the meetings and founded Teen Mania, a 20-year-old youth ministry, “and we’ve become post-Christian America, like post-Christian Europe. We’ve been working as hard as we know how to work — everyone in youth ministry is working hard — but we’re losing.”"

Of course, the reasons the fundagelicals give for this are not the reasons I would but, still, good news is hard to come by and I'll take it.

They think it's the work of satan.

I say it's cause they're wackjobs and the kids are finally noticing.

And The Putsch Goes On, The Putsch Goes On

"President Bush, again defying Congress, says he has the power to edit the Homeland Security Department’s reports about whether it obeys privacy rules while handling background checks, ID cards and watchlists. "

Congress passes something, Bush wants something else, Bush wins, the legislative branch becomes even more subservient to the executive.

He's used signing statements to end run various laws of the land over 750 times since taking office. The Boston Globe does a good synopsis .

Harper will do the same if there's any opportunity at all. His regard for settled law is shallow at best, contemptuous more often.

And with a majority he will gut the Charter. That is a certainty.

Deep integration indeed. Deeply gutted.

Rona Ambrose's "Approach" to the Environment

Just a quick question about the word "approach".

Dear Rona Ambrose, bless her photogenic black heart, "...told a Parliamentary committee it's time for a "new approach" to dealing with the environment, but she was short on details of what that will include."

On the same day, in another universe, "Three more former congressional pages have come forward to reveal what they call "sexual approaches" over the Internet from former Congressman Mark Foley."

Same word. "Approach."

Which means what?

Is Rona making overtures?

Tax Exempt Churches in the 21st Century

Remind me again why religious institutions, churches are granted tax exempt status?

Is it just a habit left over from the 19th century and the Lord's Day Act era?

It makes no sense to me anymore.

Especially now when we seem to be undergoing a new militarism among some of them that has nothing whatever to do with their right to live as they please and everything to do with their ability to interfere with other people's right to live as they please.

In the 21st century it's time to jettison their tax exempt status.

Stop the welfare to churches.

The Scum Also Rises

As if the Mark Foley/Congressional Page scandal wasn't bad enough, the cesspools who make up PowerPajamaBottomMedia decided to reach into the depths of their inner-selves and commit an act of reprehensible proportions by "outing" the victim. From Think Progress:

Pajamas Media, Instapundit Facilitate Outing Of Foley Victim

An obscure right-wing blogger, Wild Bill, has outed one of Mark Foley’s victims, a former Congressional page. It is a despicable act. Wild Bill however, gets almost no traffic, so the damage done to the victim’s life could have been minimal.

All that ended, however, when some of the most highly-trafficked right-wing bloggers decided to direct their readers to Wild Bill’s site. First, Roger L. Simon, co-founder and CEO of Pajamas Media — a portal and advertising broker for nearly every major right-wing blog — posted a link to Wild Bill on his personal site. (The Pajamas Media portal also linked to Wild Bill.) Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit — probably the most highly-trafficked right-wing blog — followed suit by linking to Simon’s post and the Pajamas Media post.

Roger L. Simon, the ass-in-the-hat who co-founded Pajamas Media, likes to claim no particular political bent. Glenn Reynolds claims to be a libertarian.

Billmon has a much better description of both of them.

... deliberately publicizing the name of a sexually exploited teenager does seem like overkill (so to speak) -- even for the PJ brigade. I mean, it's not as if the kid criticized Israel or spoke out against torture or got in the way of Dick Cheney's shotgun.

But scavengers can't afford to be too picky, I guess.

Scavengers. Billmon is being too kind.

Scum.

(Apologies to Ernest Hemingway for the title)

2006 Canadian Blog Awards

Wow! Some of our readers have nominated us for the 2006 Canadian Blog Awards.

We have been nominated in the categories of:

Best Blog;
Best Progressive Blog;
Best Group Blog.

Round one voting commences 15 November at this location. We'll try to keep everyone up-to-date.

In the meantime, our most humble thanks to those who nominated us. We appreciate the confidence. When the voting starts we hope you'll consider us. We also hope you'll keep in mind that if we win, in any category, Cheryl will make free tax advice available.

Further: I would be remiss in not pointing out that the Canadian Blog Awards is an initiative of Robert McClelland at My Blahg. Thanks to Robert for all the work.

At the going down of the Sun, and in the morning...

With respect and condolences to the families and friends of Sergeant Craig Paul Gillam, Royal Canadian Dragoons; and, Corporal Robert Thomas James Mitchell, Royal Canadian Dragoons.

Audax et Celer

Defence of Religions Act: This needs to be stopped NOW.

Updated below
Back here, Dana warned of the gathering storm. A short time later I posted this, suggesting that while we were so busy projecting our so-called values in other countries, we were allowing the literalist-bible-interpreting Christians to infiltrate government and dismantle some of the very institutions which promote those values at home.

One of the comments was that it was "over the top".

Is it now?

This morning, Canadian Cynic makes another very similar comparison, in that unique CC style, and alerts us to more proof of Dana's prophesy.

What's causing eveyone's ears to perk up?

This:

The Conservative government is planning measures, including a Defence of Religions Act, to allow public officials, such as Justices of the Peace, to refuse to perform same-sex marriages.

The measures are also intended to protect the free-speech rights of religious leaders and others who criticize homosexual behaviour or refuse to do business with gay-rights organizations, The Globe and Mail has learned.

Essentially, what the Conservatives intend is that if they lose a vote allowing them to re-open the same-sex marriage debate and the opportunity to repeal the law which allows same-sex marriage, they will find a way to keep the fire burning.

While refusing to discuss specifics, Justice Minister Vic Toews confirmed the government's intentions yesterday in an interview.

“The nature of the concerns that are being raised with me are relating to freedom of religion and freedom to practice religion [and] freedom of expression,” he said.

“The Prime Minister has indicated that he is bringing the matter forward — the issue of same-sex marriage — on a free vote. And there may be certain options open to the government as to what the response should be in either event, whether that opening is successful or not successful.”

In other words, the religious agenda is on the government's plate. And, a whole forkload of unpalatable religious crap is about to be shoved down the throats of Canadians, despite the fact that a majority Canadians do not object to same-sex marriage and consider the issue settled.

The former Liberal government said that existing laws and court rulings already protect the rights of religious groups not to be compelled to perform same-sex marriage.

Which would make any Defence of Religion law seem redundant. Except that isn't what this is all about. This legislation is about making gay-bashing, including death-threats, legal.

However, there is acknowledged uncertainty about the rights of individuals to publicly criticize homosexual behaviour, to take out advertisements that quote scripture demanding that homosexuals be put to death, or to refuse to do business with groups whose views an individual or group finds objectionable. (Emphasis mine)

Alison goes straight for the juglar on this one.

Why yes, there is an "acknowledged uncertainty" there, isn't there, Steve?That thin delicate ill-defined line separating religion and death threats.That illusive boundary between belief and hate speech.

Well said and enough to raise the alarm.

If this goes anywhere you had better assess how you fit in with the fundamentalist agenda. Once they've won the right to marginalize one group of Canadians they will take aim at any other citizens with whom their religious beliefs disagree.

Because one thing is clear: The Christian tolerance of the fundies is limited to those who get down on their knees with them and swallow, whole, all of their superstitious garbage.

Update: Canadian Cynic has pointed out that if this goes anywhere, turn about is fair play... or something like that.

Further Update: Now... Steve is denying the whole thing, saying there is no plan to enact legislation. He has to say that. He has the weakest minority government in the history of Canada and this little trial balloon just popped in his face. Vic Toews refused to talk about it any further and, in the Commons, dismissed the whole thing as "speculation". He then refused to answer questions. You know, the kinds that might have provided some clarity. Spokesman, Dimitris Soudas, says cabinet has seen no such proposal. Soudas is a spin-doctor - not an elected member of parliament.

I don't believe any of them.

So Much for Consent of the Governed

61% of Americans now oppose the war in Iraq.

58% say the Bushies misled them about Iraq,

66% say they disapprove of the way Bush is handling it.

This means no change of course. Of course.

Just as similarly high disapproval numbers in Canada viv a vis our participation in the new and glorious Anglo-Afghnistan war will mean nothing to Harper, Mackay, OConnor, Hillier et al.

It ain't about the people. It's about the ideology, fool.

O'Reilly and Fox Show CTV and Duffy How It's Done

2 More Dead and 5 More Wounded

This from The Star.

Two weeks ago we were told we'd defeated them there.

Did we? Or did they just melt back into the hills, cache their weapons and come back to hit us at the time and place of their choosing, not ours.

Like they did to the Soviet force that was ten times the size of the current NATO force. For a decade.

What has led us to believe we are so superior, so sanctified, so ... whatever it is we believe we are...that this time history won't repeat itself.

Hastert tells another lie.

Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill), Speaker of the US House of Representatives was on the air with Rush Limbaugh today. (Note how that particular breed runs to the same oracles when they enter damage control mode.) This is what he said: (via Think Progress)

SPEAKER HASTERT: There were two pieces of paper out there, one that we knew about and we acted on; one that happened in 2003 we didn’t know about, but somebody had it, and, you know, they’re trying — and they drop it the last day of the session, you know, before we adjourn on an election year. Now, we took care of Mr. Foley. We found out about it, asked him to resign. He did resign. He’s gone. We asked for an investigation. We’ve done that. We’re trying to build better protections for these page programs.
But, you know, this is a political issue in itself, too, and what we’ve tried to do as the Republican Party is make a better economy, protect this country against terrorism — and we’ve worked at it ever since 9/11, worked with the president on it — and there are some people that try to tear us down. We are the insulation to protect this country, and if they get to me it looks like they could affect our election as well. (Emphasis mine)

Read that emphasized portion very, very carefully. Hastert is claiming there was a piece of paper with damning, damning, I tell you, information which would damage the GOP and affect the outcome of the 2006 mid-term elections.

It's been available to, and in the hands of the Democrats since 2003, according to Hastert.

That would mean the Democrats who could have shattered the GOP did not use it during the 2004 general election.

Lying pig.

The British defy Karzai and make a truce with the Taliban

With losses higher than expected in a fight that was tougher than anyone had been able to forecast, the commander of the British 16 Air Assault Brigade has done the only thing that makes sense and backed away from the platoon house at Musa Qala in Afghanistan. In return he has a deal with the local population that the Taliban will do the same.

BRITISH troops battling the Taliban are to withdraw from one of the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan after agreeing a secret deal with the local people.

[...]

It has now been agreed the troops will quietly pull out of Musa Qala in return for the Taliban doing the same. The compound is one of four district government offices in the Helmand province that are being guarded by British troops.

Although soldiers on the ground may welcome the agreement, it is likely to raise new questions about troop deployment. Last month Sir Richard Dannatt, the new head of the British Army, warned that soldiers in Afghanistan were fighting at the limit of their capacity and could only “just” cope with the demands.

When British troops were first sent to Afghanistan it was hoped they would help kick-start the country’s reconstruction. But under pressure from President Hamid Karzai they were forced to defend Afghan government “district centres” at Musa Qala, Sangin, Nowzad and Kajaki.

The idea of defending the four district centres was opposed by the NATO commander in Afghanistan and most other force commanders.

The move — opposed by Lieutenant-General David Richards, the Nato commander in Afghanistan — turned the four remote British bases into what Richards called “magnets” for the Taliban. All 16 of the British soldiers killed in action in southern Afghanistan have died at Musa Qala, Sangin or Nowzad.

The soldiers risk sniper fire and full-scale assaults from experienced Taliban fighters who can then blend into the local population after each attack.

The British are willing to risk having the Taliban regroup over the winter in an attempt to stop the fighting around the villages.

... there are clear signs of the commitment of the people of Musa Qala to the deal, with one Talib who stood out against it reportedly lynched by angry locals.

“There is always a risk,” one officer said. “But if it works, it will provide a good template for the rest of Helmand. The people of Sangin are already saying they want a similar deal.”

The British appear to be defying Afghan president Hamid Karzai. It's about time.

NATO troops took over an incredible mess in Helmand. The US had about 100 special forces troops stationed in the area before the British took over. The lack of reconstruction and paltry military presence allowed the Taliban to become fully established and gain a foothold in the area. Karzai's insistence that the district centres be defended against Taliban forces gave them a target.

In the meantime, Canadian defence minister Gordon O'Connor is pressuring other NATO participants to remove the national caveats which restrict some countries' troops from conducting offensive operations.

That's all well and good, but did O'Connor have any idea at all that the British were about to engage in a truce with the Taliban? Clearly the British want to deal with the war in Afghanistan differently. One might think the British would have kept Canadian commanders informed.

Recent weeks have seen reports come out of the UK in which British army defence staff had advised British Defence Secretary Des Browne against the Afghanistan deployment and that the British army is "just" coping with the task. A recent BBC poll, indicating that 53% of the population is against the use of British troops in Afghanistan is also reflecting a common dissatisfaction with the situation among many western countries.

Frist waffles

Republican Senator Bill Frist, having made a statement which suggested the Taliban should be included in the Afghan government, has suddenly reversed the direction of his oars, probably in response to the apoplexy evident in the right-wing blogosphere in response to his original statement.

After calling Frist a quisling, an accomodationist and vacuous, cowardly, inept and corrupt, many members of the right-wing blogosphere threw in the towel and announced that they were no longer supporting the GOP.

That lasted for about 2.5 hours.

They are all better now and both Ace and Mary Katherine Ham are still on Frist's team. Sort of.

The US is losing the war on weeds

While the US goes ahead with a plan to build a fence along the border with Mexico experts are saying the whole idea is impractical. The very same idiots who voted overwhelmingly to create their very own version of the Berlin Wall have also strongly suggested that something similiar be built along the northern border with Canada.

The construction of a physical barrier along the Canadian border "is very much needed," said Rep. Candice Miller, a Michigan Republican whose district borders southwestern Ontario and parts of Lake Huron.

"Every day smugglers are bringing drugs, people and other contraband across our northern borders, which is met with little or no resistance," Miller said during heated debate Thursday on the legislation. "Terror cells that have been rounded up in Toronto, which is literally only a three-hour drive from my district."

She failed to mention, however, that the Sept. 11th attacks originated in the United States and that, well, the US seems to have the same kind of homegrown terrorist cells.

Not that any of that matters because, for want of a good stock of Weed-Eaters™, the US is unable to locate some good chunks of its north-east and north-west border.

The United States wants to better secure its border with Canada, but it might have trouble finding it in some areas, an official with the agency that maintains the border said.

The U.S. and Canada have fallen so far behind on basic maintenance of their shared border that law enforcement officials might have to search through overgrown vegetation for markers in some places, the official said.

"If you can't find it, then you can't secure it," said Dennis Schornack, the U.S. commissioner of the International Boundary Commission, the intergovernmental agency responsible for maintaining the U.S.-Canada border.

The commission has warned that it has fallen far behind in clearing fast-growing brush and trees, especially in the United States' Northwest and Northeast - between Washington state and British Columbia and between New England and Quebec and New Brunswick.

The Boeing Co. has been awarded a three-year, $67 million contract to implement the first part of a plan to reduce illegal entry along thousands of miles of border with Canada and Mexico using better technology, including cameras, sensors and even unmanned airplanes.

But commission officials say their budget of about $3.6 million is insufficient and insist that if they are not given more money to buy basic machinery to beat back the weeds, bushes and trees that threaten to overtake parts of the border, all those high-tech gadgets could prove useless.

"I've talked and talked, and we don't seem to be getting anywhere," Schornack said. "Yes, it's not glamorous. It's not high-tech. It's chain saws and weed whackers. But if you don't get that basic job done, all I know is cameras won't work."

It sounds like somebody who's never actually seen the border believes that technology trumps boots on the ground. Where have we heard that before?

These guys really can't be taken seriously, can they?

Another Story for the National Media to Ignore

"U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan war against Taliban guerrillas can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Islamic militia and its supporters into the Afghan government."

Full story is here.

I have little faith that this story will see the light of day in any Canadian national media.

I think as events continue to unfold we're going to have to get used to the idea that by and large the Canadian national media are becoming more and more parochial on the subject of our involvement in the Afghanistan mission.

In the past weeks there have been several important news stories relevant to the Afghanistan situation from Great Britain and Germany that have gone entirely unremarked by Canadian national media. This one from the USA will in all likelihood go unremarked as well.

Why the media should be choosing insularity in this way is puzzling in a world as inter-connected as ours has become. Perhaps theres an unconscious consensus that citizens who really want to know more can find out on their own online. Then again perhaps the consensus isn't unconscious at all. Perhaps they're just trying to protect some 19th century notion of relevance or turf. Perhaps they just believe that the only useful information relevant to Canadians is information generated from within Canada. I don't know.

I do know that they are wilfully filtering a fair amount of information that comes out of the news media of several of our NATO allies. I know that in each instance the information being filtered is in some way critical of the Afghanistan mission - either it's inception or it's execution. In some cases the information has to do with dropping public support, in some cases flagging military confidence and in some cases rising corruption among either the allies and their commercial partners or the installed Afghanistan government and it's components.

Why, in a world as inter-connected and as supposedly inter-dependent as this would Canada's national media choose to become insular and parochial?

Tis a puzzlement.

Republican Moral Superiority

Whilst catching up on the latest scintillating news about Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley's "naughty" (to use Tony Snow's characterization) antics I came across a huge list of other US Republican officials and elected...umm...members who've run into problems having to do with their own predilection for pursuing sexual escapades with the youth of America.

It's here. Try not to scream and throw things at your monitor.

And while we're on the subject of Republican chicanery with the underage population let's not forget the Franklin scandal - again.

And the thundering silence from the religious right on the Foley mess is telling too. Not one of the sanctimonious pricks has said word one in condemnation of this asshole Foley, thus tacitly condoning his behaviour.

These are all the organizations who have recently set up shop in Ottawa.

I look forward to their moral guidance.

We should be a real Sodom and Gomorah by the time they're done with us.

Of course, being Republicans, they're looking for ways to institutionalize the right to ogle and grope underage people now.

It's so reassuring to know Harper's Conservative government considers the Republican Party to be their ally and model in the fight to return to our traditional values.

I'm so looking forward to it.

When times are tough and friends are few

The infantry's the place for you.

Back in the day, when the Earth was somewhat flatter, I wandered into a recruiting office with the single-minded purpose of joining the navy. Although Unification, an act for which Paul Helleyer deserves to be flogged, had not yet been enacted, recruiting offices had been combined. While I automatically went to the desk and spoke to the petty officer in the naval uniform, a Canadian Guards sergeant and an RCAF corporal both offered information on their respective services.

It mattered little to me. I was joining the RCN or nothing. It's not that I didn't like the army, or thought that it was a lesser service, it was simply a matter of preference for me. (The fact that no-so-many years later I would be carrying a British L1A1 SLR, a bergen and 58 Pattern webbing, in a role very similar to that described by the Guards sergeant is somewhat irrelevant. Technically, I still belonged to a navy.)

In subsequent years I encountered many people who had entered the armed forces after Unification and was surprized to hear that, in the early 1970s, recruits into any service and any trade encountered some serious pressure to become infantrymen. In later years, there would be a program (LOTRP) which saw recruits enter one of the combat arms trades for a period of three years with a guarantee to reassign and retrain each such program participant in a non-combat arms trade.

The overwhelming majority of these participants came from the infantry - with good reason. Arguably, the job of an infantry soldier is the toughest, dirtiest, most soul-wrenching and often the most personally dangerous job in almost any armed forces. An infantry soldier's primary job is to close with and destroy the enemy. It goes without saying that the enemy is intent on doing exactly the same thing.

Canadian infantry soldiers are not the cannon-fodder of wars long-past. They are well-trained, specialized and highly skilled. And, it takes a special kind of person to do the job.

It was with the knowledge of some of the history of the challenges in recruiting infantry soldiers that I read this from Renata D'Aliesio. What started out as an article describing a decision to increase the armour on the LAV III revealed a plan by the Canadian Forces to take people in the recruit training stream in various occupations and redirect them to the infantry. Chief of Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier:

"Back home in the army, across the Canadian Forces, we are going to be re-rolling a whole bunch of folks in the training pipeline now into the infantry," Hillier told the troops. "They might be signed up to be an armoured soldier or an artillery man or woman, but for the next two years or so we are going to turn them into infantry men or women."

Isn't THAT special!

It puts a whole new spin on the definition of "volunteer". While Hillier's statement appears to suggest that it will be combat arms soldiers from armour or artillery redirected to the infantry, the "across the Canadian Forces" reference indicates that it may be conducted with a wider sweep.

It also has the potential of turning recruiters into liars.

This is desperation which needs to be watched.

At the going down of the Sun, and in the morning...

With respect and condolences to the family and friends of Private Josh Klukie, 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment.

Pro Patria

Spaced out Sundays - a special for Scout

In last week's Spaced out Sundays, Scout made a veiled request that I took to heart. She found last week's photo reminded her of a bracelet and wondered if necklaces and rings were next. Well Scout, I found you a necklace; a heart-shaped necklace surrounded by diamonds, courtesy of the constellation Corvus. In fact, the dust and gas clouds of two galaxies collided and triggered a furious birth of new stars. If you look at the very tip of the upper arc, you can just see the beginnings of a new galaxy, the offspring of the cosmic debris of the collision.

Here's to you Scout. Your very own galactic necklace.