A Tale of Two Georges

I shouldn’t have to say it, but for the benefit of the cerebrally-deprived I will anyway:  I am not a fan of George W Bush — far from it.

But this is ridiculous:

Next week’s appearance by former U.S. president George W. Bush at an event hosted by a local evangelical Christian university has been cancelled.

The decision came Wednesday, the same day three former students launched a petition http://www.tyndale.co/petitionEND urging the university to cancel the speech. On Tuesday, a class valedictorian and professor publicly spoke out against the appearance following the resignation of another staff member.

Bush was scheduled to speak Sept. 20 to about 150 people at an invitation-only breakfast hosted by Tyndale University College and Seminary, home to about 1,400 students at two campuses in Toronto’s north end.

So, the school puts on a little shindig featuring the incoherent gibberish of George W Bush.  An exclusive event, meant for an invitation-only audience of about 150 people.  “Invitation-only” — meaning nobody will be forced to attend, no virgin ears will be irreparably damaged nor tender psyches shattered by the discordant sound of disagreeable views.  The speech will be attended only by those who want to hear Georgie speak, and those who despise the man don’t have to put up with him.  That’s what most people would call a win-win.  That’s what most people would call free speech.

But not everyone.  For a disgruntled few, opting out of the speech wasn’t enough — the choice to attend the speech had to be denied even to those who wanted went to the trouble of getting themselves on the Invite List.

So much for universities being bastions of free thought and free speech.  Imposing your choice on someone else, or taking their choice away, isn’t freedom:  it’s the ugly face of authoritarianism in all its censorious glory.   And in this case, probably hypocrisy of the highest order:  I wonder how the Self-Appointed Censors of Tynedale College reacted when it was this guy’s speech being censored.

That said, this engagement has only been public knowledge for a couple of days, so there’s a pretty good chance that the cancellation was just due to a scheduling conflict for The Georgie, not a victory for the Censors.  But that doesn’t make the intent any less, which is all that counts.

You go, girl

Bwahaa!:

A 20-something Saudi female stopped and questioned by a religious policeman as she strolled through an amusement park with a young man apparently had enough and punched the officer repeatedly until he had to be taken to a hospital, the Jerusalem Post reported Monday.

Fetus fetishists and other assorted ass-backward religiofascists who come in their pants at the thought of rolling back womens’ rights: take note.  If this is what’s happening in an atavistic theo-shit hole like Saudi Arabia, you don’t even want to imagine what would happen here.

UPDATE: On the serious side of things, I hope that human rights groups will be prepared to defend this young woman, who may end up paying some heavy dues:

If the woman is charged with assaulting the officer, she could face a lengthy prison term, or a lashing, or both.

(Thanks to RB in the comments.)

Sexual McCarthyism comes to DC

Authoritarianism on the march: it’s here and it’s queer (closeted perhaps, but still)!

Hyperbigot Christianist freakshow voted (by me) “Most Likely To Be Caught Holidaying With A Hunky Personal ‘Bag Handler‘” Peter LaBarbera of — stand back! — “Americans For Truth About Homosexuality”, wants to know if SCOTUS nominee Elena Kagan is now, or ever has been, a member of Teh Ghey Conspiracy. Because according to LaBarbera, “the public has a right to know” the most private personal details of Kagan’s life:

In the wake of AP’s report that Solicitor General Elena Kagan is President Obama’s choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) reiterates its call for Kagan to answer the question: ‘Are (or were) you a practicing homosexual?’

According to some reports it is an open secret that Kagan is a practicing lesbian — to which AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera responds:

“If Kagan is practicing immoral sexual behavior, it reflects on her character as a judicial nominee and her personal bias as potentially one of the most important public officials in America. The popular mantra — even among conservatives — is that Kagan’s sexuality is ‘irrelevant.’ But a Justice Kagan would help decide some critically important constitutional issues dealing with: homosexual ‘marriage’ as a supposed civil right; religious liberty and freedom of conscience; and the First Amendment as applied to citizens’ right to oppose homosexuality. So it certainly matters if she, as a lifetime judge, could emerge as a crusading (openly) ‘gay’ advocate on the court.

All I can say to that is:   At long last sir, have you no sense of decency?

Good night and good luck (and get fucked).  (EDIT:  As Bina would say.)

UPDATE: Oh, fun… the homobigot hate site has a search engine.  Let’s see if they’re up to date on the relevant news of the day:

Oh come on.  Surely they must have something more than a 4-year-old bullshit story about a different George Rekers (the one that hadn’t been caught yet).  This was a Big Scandal among the Christofascist Elite, after all, and AFTAH links to some of the very “ministries” Rekers helped head up (so to speak)…

Ah-ha!  Ding ding ding!How many of these deranged creeps do you think went straight to the rentboy site after reading that article?  Bwahaa!

(Post edited to use cache link to what appears to be a raging hate site.  Apologies.)

Swine of the Week (so far)

Beating out even the brainless jerkoffs and lowlife scum who cut gas lines, sent faxes with pictures of nooses, and left threatening voice mails at Democratic congressmen’s HOMES (“you’re a baby-killing motherfucker who should bleed out of your ass, get cancer and die”), is GOP minority whip Eric Cantor:

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor just gave a brief speech accusing Democrats of using reports of recent threats of violence for political gain, and saying someone shot a bullet through the window of his campaign office this week.  […]

Cantor said a bullet was shot through the window of his Richmond, Va., campaign office this week, and that he’s gotten threatening emails.

“I will not release them because I believe such actions will only encourage more to be sent,” he said.

This is nothing but the panicked gibberish of a mentally incompetent street racer who suddenly realizes in mid-rollover that he’s about to crash.

Way to make a veiled threat, though:  Stop talking about the terrorist tactics of our supporters or there will be more where those came from!

UPDATE: SHRIEK!  Bullets and threats and threatening bullets, oh my!… and then, there’s Reality:

A Richmond Police detective was assigned to the case. A preliminary investigation shows that a bullet was fired into the air and struck the window in a downward direction, landing on the floor about a foot from the window. The round struck with enough force to break the windowpane but did not penetrate the window blinds.

Dan Savage is right

How is it that our Minister of Pubic Safety, the vile Vic Toews, has managed to hover under the radar for so long?

Certainly Canadians have a live-and-let-live attitude when it comes to our politicians’ private lives, even when they suddenly explode in a chaotic mess of mistresses, illicit babies and acrimonious divorce proceedings.  But when the politician at the heart of the mayhem is Canada’s unofficial, self-appointed “minister of family values”, a sanctimonious suckfish who for awhile made a pretty good living ginning up brainless hysteria by claiming that some marriages were a threat to the entire institution — all while shitting on his own wedding vows — he might deserve a little extra attention.

Via News of the Restless, we learn that USian columnist Dan Savage is not impressed that Canadians have allowed a bigoted hypocrite of Toews’ brain-damaged magnitude to slither out of sight and out of mind without so much as the Santorumization of his name in recognition of his outstanding batshittery.   In his latest column (which happily is syndicated, ie. everywhere), Savage re-tells the tale of Toews and advises us to snap out of our collective stupor and at least give Toews the gift of the ongoing mockery he so richly deserves by Santorumizing his name.  “Toews” (pronounced “Taves”) may not be as much fun to work with as Santorum, but we can do this, yes we can!  Right off the top of my head, toews sounds like some kind of hideous skin eruption, maybe bleeding pustules caused by having sex with blow-up dolls.

Get creative!  Bina is taking suggestions at her place.

Glenn Beck keeps it klassy

Regular viewers of Olbermann will be aware that KO’s father has been very ill for several months.  On Wednesday night’s Special Comment, he told a heartbreaking story about his father’s illness, in the context of health care reform and end-of-life discussions:

The segment hit me especially hard — 6 years ago, my mom asked me to do the same for her: in her words, “Help me die”.  In the end I didn’t have the guts to help her, but thanks to universal healthcare our family at least had the option, as Olbermann did, of conferring with medical professionals about sedation to dull the agony of her final days, and she slipped away on her own.

So I was infuriated when I saw Glenn Beck’s response to the Olbermann segment was to state that under universal healthcare “Your father would be dead by now”, astonishingly even laughing at times.  (I frankly don’t give a shit that Beck prefaced his remarks by wishing Olbermann’s father well.  Those are meaningless platitudes in this context.)

And it gets worse:  until early yesterday, Olbermann had been scheduled to cover the health care summit with Chris Matthews — but about midday he was quietly dropped from the lineup of commentators.  One would think Beck, or at least one of his staff, would be astute enough to notice this and give some thought as to what such an ominous sign might mean, before saying something like “Your father would be dead by now”.

Fucking puke.

Why is this guy a Democrat?

Bart Stupak, C-Streeter, anti-choice extremist and conservative (who for some inexplicable reason is allowed to caucus with the Democrats and even run under their banner), is promising to help the GOP kill the health care bill because the Nelson anti-abortion language isn’t to his liking (it doesn’t say anything about shaming, shunning and stoning).  To this end, Stupak has been secretly scheming with the GOP:

An aide to Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) coordinated opposition to the Senate health bill’s abortion compromise this morning with the Republican Senate leadership, according to a chain of frantic emails obtained this morning by POLITICO.

Stupak frantically tries to dial it down:

Stupak, in an interview with POLITICO, called the Senate bill’s abortion position “unacceptable” – but disavowed his staffer’s collaboration with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“I never talked to McConnell about the health care bill,” said Stupak, adding that “I did not authorize the email [which] “was sent without my knowledge.”

But:

The emails suggest a previously unseen degree of coordination between the offices of Stupak and McConnell. Stupak is the leader of a group of pro-life Democrats who say they’ll oppose the sweeping legislation if it uses government money to pay for abortion, while McConnell is firmly committed to killing the legislation.

Meanwhile, the ultraright Weekly Standard is begging Stupak to come to the aid of the GOP:

Are there enough votes in the House to pass a health care bill very close to the one the Senate is preparing to pass? Bart Stupak says the Senate bill’s abortion language is “unacceptable” and has pledged to lead a group of pro-life Democrats to vote against final passage if the issue isn’t resolved. How many votes can Stupak bring with him?

I understand that the Democratic Party likes to think of itself as a “big tent”, but this is ridiculous.

Oklahoma slutshaming law stalled again

A couple of months ago I posted about how an Oklahoma judge temporarily barred the travesty of the state’s proposed “Abortion Registry”, which would post online the five W’s of all women having abortions in the state.   “Temporarily” ended yesterday, but once again the malevolent masturbatory dreams of fascist punishment freaks have been dashed upon the rocks of reason and privacy rights, as the restraining order against the Oklahoma Slutshaming Law was extended:

A judge in Oklahoma extended on Friday a temporary restraining order on a law that would post information online about women who get abortions in the state.

In extending the restraining order, Oklahoma County District Judge Daniel Owens denied the state’s motion to dismiss the case, putting the measure on hold until a February 19 hearing.  […]

The law, passed in May, requires doctors to fill out a 10-page questionnaire for every abortion performed, including asking the woman about her age, marital status, race and years of education. In all, there are 37 questions the women are to answer.

Critics say the act would be harassment and an invasion of privacy.

Having your gynecological history posted online is an “Invasion of privacy”?  No!  Ya think!??  Looks like 93/100 CNN readers agree:

Just imagine if this same kind of law applied to, oh, I don’t know — erectile dysfunction treatments?  What do you suppose the reaction would be?  Men would stop getting treatment, that’s what, which is precisely what the “abortion registry” is meant to do to women.  SLUTSHAMING of the most primitive order.

(via PZ Myers on Twitter)

If we’re taking collections

… to expedite the departure of those who are embarrassed to be Canadian:

…Some day I may write a more thoughtful response to your confession that you are embarrassed to be a Canadian. In the meantime, I will be delighted to throw in 133 dollars for your application for immigration to any country that is willing to have you.

…let’s not forget about the ones who hate Canada:

No, really:

(in response to:)

Unless embarrassment trumps hate, I assume we can look forward to Adler’s outraged article and emigration fundraiser… soonest!  (Or is this yet another one of those “IOKIYAC” things?  There are so many, it’s hard to keep track.)

This train wreck has left the station

I love a good train wreck, and right now it’s name is Carrie “Pleasuring Myself for Jesus and the Private Prayerful Ecstasy of My Beloved” Prejean.  I know, BARF!… but read on.  You likey.

The “boyfriend” who so tragically abused the private personal video gifts of  the dewy-eyed 17-year-old Prejean spoke to gossip site TMZ recently and added some context to this sad and sorry tale of woe.  Apparently when the videos of Prejean’s Temple of the Holy Spirit were made, she wasn’t exactly the sweet innocent child she portrays herself as — she was 20.  She told the “boyfriend” to lie about her age after the first video broke last week.

But it gets better:

The “boyfriend,” it turns out, was someone she had met on the Internet and had known personally only during his four-day visit to San Diego. It was after he flew back home that she allegedly began bombarding him with X-rated videos that she took and sent from her cell phone.

“That’s what she’s all about — reaction and attention,” the man told Levin. “She wanted to hear all about how great she looks.”

A 4-day hookup, hmm, did they practice abstinence?

As if sensing that the shit is about to hit the fan, the Wankersphere is slowly backing away towards the nearest exit…

Normally the wingnut websites relentlessly flog any book by one of their “icons”, but oddly, that’s not happening with Prejean’s book.  World Nut Daily doesn’t have it in their “superstore“.  NOM sure as hell isn’t promoting it, they’ve moved Prejean herself to their online remainder bin that can only be found through a search.  Even Sean Hannity, who wrote the book’s foreword, doesn’t have it listed in his “Hannity Favorites” book list.

Well, let’s just try a little search:

Kinda says it all, doesn’t it?

The (8) biggest mistake(s)

Is there no end to the oppression of God-fearing, Righteous and Pious Christian Girls (who think porn is “Ew, disgusting” until they realize they’re the ones putting on the show)?

Once again, Carrie Prejean is being attacked by the Liberal Media, who (as we already know since Prejean whines about it endlessly) have been trying to silence her… by inviting her to appear on one talk show after another, where they ask her… questions! Questions about things she doesn’t want to discuss, like her Sex Tape.

Whoops!  Make that Sex Tapes.  Yesterday yet another persecution rocket was lobbed in Prejean’s general direction as a gossip site revealed that what she called “the biggest mistake of her life” was actually the eight(8) biggest mistake(s) of her life:

Now a RadarOnline.com investigation has uncovered that there are SEVEN more “biggest mistakes” of her life – all of them solo performances, just like the one sex tape that the religious beauty queen has admitted to. And there are 30 photos of Carrie, most topless, some showing everything, and most taken by Carrie using her reflection in a mirror.

On one tape Carrie is wearing just a flowing white blouse as she touches her own body in an alluring manner.  Carrie can be heard moaning on a few of the tapes.

Those could only be moans of born-again, bible-whomping, Jesus-driven spiritual ecstasy.

In her newly released book Carrie wrote, “God gave us our bodies, and it’s perfectly right that we use them in ways where we can give glory to God by making our bodies, our temples of the Holy Spirit, strong and fast.”

Yes, our bodies are Temples — even when we’re worshipping at the altar of Onan, under the omnipotent and watchful eye of St. Videocam.

OOPS! Looks like NOM is trying to silence Prejean as well —  she’s been disappeared!  Their front page last week:

And now:

The persecution never ends.

EDITED – To change the 7s to 8s.  These movies better stop surfacing, I can’t keep up.

I love men

… but I can’t help wondering why some of them are such assholes when I read articles like this:

When Dr. Marc Chamberlain, a Seattle oncologist, was treating his brain cancer patients, he noticed an alarming pattern. His male patients were typically receiving much-needed support from their wives. But a number of his female patients were going it alone, ending up separated or divorced after receiving a brain tumor diagnosis.

Dr. Chamberlain, chief of the neuro-oncology division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, had heard similar stories from his colleagues. To find out if these observations were based in fact, he embarked on a study with Dr. Michael J. Glantz of the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute and colleagues from three other institutions who began to collect data on 515 patients who received diagnoses of brain tumors or multiple sclerosis from 2001 through 2006.

The results were surprising. Women in the study who were told they had a serious illness were seven times as likely to become separated or divorced as men with similar health problems, according to the report published in the journal Cancer.

When I was diagnosed with cancer 10 years ago, my partner at the time couldn’t have been stronger or more supportive.   He (and my family, of course)  gave me the strength to zoom through an unexpected and hideous situation with a sunshiny-positive attitude.

However, as my treatment came to an end and it became apparent that the future looked bright (as in, I’d have one), my partner, who hadn’t even thought about such things for years before we even met, totally fell apart and went on an extended drug binge that led to our breakup.   What the fuck? I wondered at the time.  How can someone go from being the proverbial Rock and Tower of Strength to a pitiful puddle of insipid drug-addled decrepitude and weakness?   What confused me most of all was that he knew me well enough to know his behaviour was slam-dunk grounds for breakup.

Whatever prompted my ex to spiral into self-destructiveness during my illness is probably similar to whatever it is that motivates guys to bail on their sick wives.  Maybe the pressure of being strong in the caregiver role is more than they can hack because they’re so accustomed to being cared for themselves.

(h/t balloon juice)

Fundie hypocrisy? Say it ain’t so!

And yet another Christofascist bigot dances up and joins the ever-growing Conga Line of Lies and Mendacity.  Ms. Carrie “No Offense But Gays Are Second Class Citizens” Prejean may be looking  at a hairpin turn in her career trajectory:

Having been stripped of her Miss California glory when she failed to make her contractually-obligated public appearances, Prejean was sued by the pageant when she failed to pay them back $5500 they had loaned her for breast implants. She, in turn, filed a lawsuit against them claiming they had discriminated against her over her religion.

According to TMZ, the lawsuits ended today during a surprising meeting between the lawyers for both parties.

As the pageant lawyers played a DVD for Prejean featuring a naked woman in a porno film, she reportedly said, “That’s disgusting.”

But when the camera moved along that naked body to show her face, the words stopped. Fifteen seconds later, the lawsuit was dropped.

The moral of the story:  before going all pious and self-righteous at the sight of a porno film, it’s a good idea to make sure that person being penetrated in every orifice for all the world to see isn’t YOU.

Here endeth the lesson.

UPDATE: Think we should tell them?

NAAAAHHHHHH!

(h/t JAB)

He’s here! He’s here!

Right here!  Here’s a picture!  Come and get him!!!

Pantingly posting as “breaking!!” the news that Dr. Carhart was at the press conference, along with  a picture (likely taken without his permission), seems to be sending a message of some kind.  I won’t speculate on what that might be, but I think it’s worth noting that Dr. Tiller was relentlessly stalked the same way.

As a sidebar, the sleazy freak who creeped up on Dr. Carhart and took his picture is Wendy Wright of “Concerned Women of America”.  Wright, a pig-ignorant Christofascist who’s dumber than a bag of brain-dead hammers, was interviewed by Richard Dawkins earlier this year. The resulting video is enough to make you want to shotgun a 26er of Everclear:

GAAHHHHH!!!

But remember: the fact that they’re intellectually-bankrupt scientific illiterates doesn’t make them any less dangerous.

Maddow on Healthcare & Lieberman

Predictably, Senator Joe Lieberman (Ind-AETNA) indicated yesterday that he might block the health care reform bill with the GOP.

Just observing this debate from a safe distance is giving me a migraine… good thing I’ve got Universal Health Care.