Negligent? Never

No not negligent exactly... just juggling the National Student Forum (5 stars by the way), the National Prayer Breakfast (attached to said Forum), work (in real life I actually have a job to pay for college since blogging declines to pay, I'm not just a formless vapor inhabiting a computer keyboard), The National March for Life (awesome!), the Campaign Life Coalition Pro-Life Youth Conference (and heard Lisa Rose live), and working for the Family Coalition Party (great party by the way) as a writer/researcher/youth person....

But live in the wide world has gone on with the good and the bad. Here are a few things for you to get good and miffed, or good and excited about. Depending on inclination and orientation.

From the world of "duh" we get this gem, politicians would rather you not know how they spend their (our) money. However, Canadians are expressing a lively curiosity to know the answers to certain questions. Namely, who gets to resign first? And will so many people resign that we are forced to call a general election? Actually that may be the only credible reason to keep the books shut, from the perspective of the public which is, or so received wisdom tells us, tired of elections. As for me? Well I am a political geek and all political geeks enjoy elections so open them us says I. Taxpayer.com has a petition on the subject so all those notorious troublemakers, who would like nothing better than to see a few dozen heads (or a few hundred) explode all over the Hill and make a big green slimy mess a la Men in Black (which is high on my list of Absolute Worst Movies Ever Made FYI) and an election called where three quarters of the current sitting parliament aren't allowed to run, can make their voices heard.

I know this isn't popular to say in some Canadian conservative circles but Barbara Amiel has a tendency to really annoy me. In fact she not infrequently either inspires visions of throwing magazines at hard walls or inspires snores and/or incomprehension at the high level of complete "You wasted words on that?!". Her sympathy and advocacy for perpetrators of sexual abuse is what tends to inspire the first reaction. Why am I writing this? Do I have to have a reason? Well I just saw something about a petition to release Roman Polanski signed by all manner of Hollywood peoples (which tells you everything you need to know about Hollywood), and I remember something Amiel wrote about him that was really, really annoying...

This is the really important bit. The bit where we prove, yet again, that Canadian judges have brains and HRT don't have, like, any. Or should I say, Canadian judges have half a brain. The Ontario Divisional Court has ruled that you can still be a distinctively Christian organization and serve people with disabilities regardless of their faith. However they ruled, confusingly and contradictorily to some, that Heintz shouldn't have been dismissed. It seems that you can impose moral codes on people who might be in places of influence or evangelism, bathing and feeding people don't count. Could have been worse, could have been better. The first part especially is a vitally important ruling for faith organizations. What were the options? No Christian aid or charity organizations? Would the Salvation Army be forced to drop any religious requirements for officers? Or would they have to make sure that every homeless person they help is a Christian before they can give them food? Would a foreign aid agency have to ask the person screaming in pain and trapped under a fallen building in an earthquake zone if they were Christian, and be forced to leave them if they weren't? That is basically the position that Christian charities were left in after the OHRT ruling that they couldn't discriminate (for example require workers or board members to be Christians) if they served people who weren't Christians.

In other news that will be important soon, or soonish knowing the speed that Tribunals work at, mediation has failed in the case of the gay alter server and the Catholic church. $20,000 because you complained to the priest about whether someone is an appropriate choice for alter server? Are you kidding me? Talk about expensive opinions. He also wants the government to force the Bishop to preach a sermon about the dangers of rumors and innuendo in creating hate and discrimination. Let me repeat that. He wants the government to force the Bishop to preach a sermon. Do I need to repeat that?