Creeping things...

1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Well, so much for the biblical position on the environment.

But speaking of creeping things, Public Eye Online reports that Darrel Reid, former President of "Focus on the Family" and former Chief of Staff for the Reform Party, has just been named Rona Ambrose' Chief of Staff. Although his anti-SSM, anti-abortion, anti-evolution, anti-stem cell research opinions were deemed too fuckwitted to get him elected to office in Richmond in the last election, there is evidently a home for them in the Ministry of the Environment.

Says Dr Reid : "I think every Christian's under an obligation to change laws to reflect biblical values."

Sure. Whatever.
I think we can all guess what God's position on the sacredness of the Alberta oil sands is going to be. And it seems unlikely that God's love for the little sparrow will be extended to the 17 remaining spotted owls in BC any time soon.
But this is just a patronage position for Dr Reid, right?
It's not exactly the inauguration of the Ministry of the Environment - End Times Division.

In an offline email, Corinne from YaYaCanada is not so sure and she provides this link to Marci McDonald's article in The Walrus Magazine - Stephen Harper and The Theo-Cons.

Picture courtesy of The Brick Testament.

2010 mascot

The Vancouver Olympic Committee is calling on all Canadians to go to the 2010 website before Nov. 1 to submit a proposal for what the 2010 mascot should be.
Here's my entry.
Sadly, this means there's no point in any of you other guys even trying now.

Link

Steve and Sandra play to their base

Steve : Whoa! What, no cartoon this time?
Sandra : We seem to be the victims of a program funding cut here, sir.

Steve : Hey, how are our own cuts playing to the base?
Sandra : Excellent, sir. They clearly demonstrate we don't like research or drugs or uppity women or gays or aboriginals. But that isn't even the best part....

Sandra : No, the best part is how they're reacting to the big cheque moment. They think you invented it, sir. Many of them don't realize that the $13 billion surplus was accrued under the Libs or that it must be applied to the debt every year by law or that the Libs paid down $82 billion in the last decade alone.

Steve : Yeah, well, it's all about optics. Speaking of which...Sandra, what are you wearing?
Sandra : Why, sir....this is rather unexpected...my red power jacket. Why?

Steve : Because it's Wednesday, Sandra. Wearing red on Wednesdays is not supporting the troops.
Sandra : Sorry, sir. I was wearing red in my spare time. Won't happen again, sir.

Memorize this quote

because we're probably going to be needing it again pretty soon.

"I just don't think it made sense for the government to subsidize lawyers to challenge the government's own laws in court," Treasury Board president John Baird said."

This is John "Workfare" Baird's justification for cutting funding to the Court Challenges Program, which funded litigation in the name of equal rights for those who could not otherwise afford it.
A Charter of Rights that cannot be accessed by everyone is not exactly a Charter of Rights then, is it, John?

The Court Challenges Program is on the same chopping block as funding for adult literacy, museums, future admin costs at Status of Women, medical marijuana research - you can read the whole sorry list for yourself at the Treasury Board of Canada website.

And about that quote : How long do you think it will be before Canada's Gnu Government will have occasion to "subsidize lawyers to challenge the government's own laws in court" ?

McVety to Harper : Pwned!

"The bible interprets itself" said blowhard buffoon Charles McVety, president of the Canada Family Action Coalition, to howls of derision from the audience on CBC's "The Big Picture" tonight.

Other recent McVety quotes are not so easily laughed off.

Globe&Mail :
"McVety noted that large numbers of Conservative supporters actively campaigned to get out the vote in the last election for Tory MPs who oppose gay marriage, which he said contributed to a higher voter turnout and a Conservative victory.
"If they abandon those voters, they won't come out. And if there is not a high voter turnout, there will be no majority [Conservative] government," he said."

Shorter McVety : The Cons only need 4 out of 10 voters to attain a majority government in Canada. Right now they have 3 1/2.

So how is McVety gonna own Steve?

The Hill Times :
A "15-point lobbying campaign" costing "tens of thousands of dollars" which includes "prayer rallies in front of Member of Parliament [constituency] offices across the country" to be launched Sept 18.

Oh, lovely.
Just how many of those MPs do you think will be tough enough to stand up to McVety's flying monkeys in the media spotlight? Regardless of how they regard him in private, some of them might just be willing to cave rather than risk being painted as "godless" in an election. Just a few. Say, 10 or 15.

And suddenly we're looking at a Con majority owned by a few Christian whackos.
So yuck it up, my lovelies, because McVety certainly deserves it.
Just don't nap off here.

Wear red every Friday

and show support for our troops.
"let's make the United States on every Friday a sea of red"
Link

UPDATE : Great post on this from Dave at TGB.
And scanning through the major papers today - nary a word on the origins of this thing.

Red Friday

Where'd that bug go reminds us of the Red Friday public rally on Parliament Hill today at noon.

"News Talk Radio 580 CFRA is proud to support the grassroots effort brought to Petawawa by the wives of two men serving in the Canadian Forces. The concept of wearing something red - whether a red shirt, jacket, cap, bandana or whatever - every Friday is meant to let the soldiers and their spouses and children know they are not alone."
There is a song - "We Wear Red", a musical tribute commemorating 9/11 and how "our lives were changed forever", and merchandise - like this Canadian "Support Our Troops" T-shirt with the big "Made in the USA" sticker across it.

And it turns out they are indeed not alone.
Coincidentally, there is also a Red Friday "grassroots effort" south of the border to get people to wear red on Fridays, and they also sell Support the Troops T-shirts .

What a shame these two grassroots efforts didn't get together on the merchandising for this one.

Ever helpful, we here at Creekside have designed a new T to more accurately represent both groups.
We are still working on the song.

The Anschluss watchdogs

Remember the super-secret deep integration conference at the Banff Springs Hotel last week?
And the quite spectacular non-coverage it received from CBC and the print media?

Well today it just became a whole lot more visible thanks to ...

Aaron Paton at the Banff Crag and Canyon who scooped the mainstream media.
Susan Thompson at Vive le Canada who followed up on publishing Mel Hurtig's email last week with a list of the conference's participants and agenda, and
Maude Barlow of Council of Canadians who provides a concise overview in today's Toronto Star, the first big paper to make any mention of it.

On the blogs, skdadl at Pogge summarizes the progress so far, while Ross at The Gazetteer has been pushing on this all week in five separate posts.

Take a bow, Anschluss watchdogs, for paying attention to the little men behind the curtain.

Update : Gosh, thanks just ever so, CBC, for this truly stellar piece of investigative journalism.
And to think they were working without a media press kit from Stockboy!
They did at least quote Banff taxi driver Chris Foote, who as Herbinator mentioned below, should have been prominantly included in my list above for his part in getting the word out.

Steve and Sandra's "Two Bit Plan"TM

Cerberus notes that Steve's "The Five Priorities"TM have suddenly morphed into "The Four Pillars"TM and The Gazetteer gives us his own version of Steve and Sandra.

You're either with the US or against us.

Maher Arar exonerated.
Completely. Unequivocally.

I am happy for him. I am angry for the rest of us.

On Saturday Arar flew from Kamloops to Calgary and then on to Ottawa to hear the results of the federal inquiry that would both clear his name and accuse the RCMP of wrongly telling US authorities that he was "an Islamic extremist suspected of being linked to the al Qaeda terrorist network".

He chose this route over a more direct Vancouver/Ottawa route because of the danger of that flight veering into US airspace. Understandable, wouldn't you say?
He presents his ticket and driver's licence to the Air Canada check-in clerk in Kamloops.
A flag on his name results in a fifteen minute security check
Arar asks the reporter travelling with him why his name is still flagged after four years.

Anyone want to tell him?
Air Transport Association of Canada uses the US Homeland Security no-fly selectee list to screen passengers even on domestic flights from one point in Canada to another. They do this despite Transport Canada's statement that there is no requirement for them to do so. There are reportedly 70,000 people on that list.

In his report, Justice O'Connor "recommends the RCMP and CSIS review their policies governing how they supply information to foreign governments with questionable human rights records."

Are you laughing yet? That's Stockwell Day's department.
It's a fine recommendation but what do you think the chances are that this government, this government with its "You're either with the US or against us" record, will consider the US of fucking A to be 1)a foreign country and 2)with a questionable human rights record?