AWOL

I have been very badly AWOL, writing research reports and rebuilding a website. And meanwhile all kinds of interesting stuff was happening that I have barely even covered.

The Euthanasia bill in the Canadian Parliament was defeated 228 to 59, which is only a close vote if you like Da Vinci Code genre history. Perhaps euthanasia gets less traction then abortion because everyone voting on abortion is in no danger of being aborted, whereas aging politicians...

I hate people who manufacture frivolous human rights. It is like some of the more PETAish animal rights activists. Do they not realize that they are not bringing animals up but dragging humans down? Do these human rights people not realize that by creating human rights that violate any iota of common sense they are only discrediting real human rights. And we thought that the human right not to be offended was extreme. What about the human right to go on government subsidized vacations? The human right! Not, this will stimulate the economy so we are going to invest in tourism. No, this is saying that people, especially students, the elderly, and those in difficult situations have the human right to go on vacation. You know there is a psychological phenomena that people who are in deep economic trouble tend to start spending more money under the rationalization that they will never get out of this pit anyway so they might as well spend whatever they have left before the creditors come flocking in. I wonder if that applies to nations too. We are so decadent and so indebted that we can think of nothing better to do than throw more money at nonsense. Worse than nonsense. Harmful nonsense. This kind of mindless socialism is like the ideological version of heroin. Expense, unsustainable, destructive, deadly... and addictive.

In better news, Ontario has decided to rethink their new sex-ed policy due to the Catholic Schools breaking into open revolt. So for the time being you will not have to worry about your eight year old receiving government mandated lectures on the warm fuzzies of homosexuality. You will just have to worry about him getting taught that anyway. Cheers all.

Stop the Presses, Ezra Levant is saying extraordinarily nice things about Ujjal Dosanjh. It's a regular little love fest over at ezralevant.com and, I must say, not undeservedly. Even if Mr. Dosanjh didn't seem to be exactly on our side in the Section 13 hearings. Oh, and in other news, Levant has written a new book due to come out soon on the Oil Sands.

Harking back to my Zerbisias for Coulter post... The Zerb will no longer be writing her column at the Star having migrated to Features. Whether that is better, worse, or just equally ghastly I don't know. Jonathan Kay does take a moment to note, and indeed almost lament the fall of the radical left columnist. Something he attributes at least in part to bloggers and their fact checking and satire fetishes. Why lament? What good is a conservative columnist unless the left is busy spouting their ideas? We'd have nothing to make money laughing at anymore. (P.S. That's why conservatives are into freedom of speech. P.P.S. I laugh at liberals, can I get some of the money too?)

Ignatieff, in a frenzy of equal opportunity sanctions, is coping with being put on (political) suicide watch by trying to regulate everyone else's guns too. For the record, in case any liberals are poking around, the previous sentence is called satire, kinda. However Ignatieff is busy trying to save the gun registry by any means possible. How fun. I shall enjoy watching the Liberals lose every rural and semi-rural seat they still have left (Do they have any left?). I like this article on the subject. For the record, I live in a riding which was Liberal for 60 years. Until the gun registry came along and it is now one of the safest Conservative seats in the province.

Speaking of guns and suicide watches. It appears that Allan Rock, who was originally responsible for the gun registry, authorized Houle's letter to Ann Coulter. Some people never learn.

Speaking of Conservatives and my riding and specifically Cheryl Gallant MP who is NOT winning any brownie points on my desk. I received a letter from her today which says, in full.

Dear Rebecca,
Thank you for your phone call of March 29 in which you inquired about Section 13 of the human rights code.
Together with my colleagues in the Conservative government we believe that freedom of expression is a basic tenant of our law, and within appropriate limits, must be respected.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Tribunal are independent agencies that administer the CHRA without interference from the government.
Cheryl Gallant

If she really didn't want to say anything she could easily have saved herself the bother of writing it out. Perhaps it is not possible for Conservatives to be more emphatic (like saying anything that Francois Houle wouldn't applaud) right now, but then again, when 99.9% of the media is being very forthright about how much they like freedom of speech and how much they don't like the fact that it is being eroded how much more encouragement do you need? Which part of "Parliament can abolish Section 13" is difficult for these people? Will saying, "You are making it very hard for me to want to vote for you" make it easier for them to understand? Coward.

Very interesting Westminister 2010 Document. Over 35,000 signatures in 20 days.

We the undersigned are Christians who believe that protecting human life, protecting marriage, and protecting freedom of conscience are foundational for creating and maintaining strong families, caring communities and a just society.

In signing the Westminster 2010 Declaration of Christian Conscience we commit ourselves to worship, honour and obey God, to exercise social responsibility in working for the common good and to be subject to all governing authorities and obey them except when they require us to act unjustly.

We call upon all parliamentary candidates to pledge that they will ‘respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express Christian beliefs and act according to Christian conscience’.

The Calgary Herald makes the good point, relevant to my earlier post, that the U of C is not quite a private institution since taxpayers foot the majority of the bill. Whether that forces them to support freedom of speech I don't know. But threatening to cut funding as long as they fail to fulfill their mandate could be quite appropriate. Another, if unlikely, tactic to consider.

For your viewing pleasure
http://pajamasmedia.com/andrewklavan/2009/11/23/limbaugh-and-coulter-and-beck-oh-my/

Interesting post by SoCon or Bust on 10 wedges to bring down abortion. He may be right, banning sex selection abortion, stopping government subsidies, and bringing in informed consent laws would probably be more palatable than banning abortion outright. We shall see.