One, If By Land, Two, If By Dumbass
29 November 2006 by Raindogzilla
I’m not sure why. Maybe the results of this past election have sent are homegrown variety scurrying for more hospitable climes. Maybe Canada has finally been blessed with a Benedict Arnold of their very own. Either way, it seems an unholy alliance is being struck between our portly pulpit puncher, Jerry Falwell, and his Canadian wannabe counterpart. Now, I’ve got nothing against our northern neighbors, eh, but if we could just convince our fundies that, now that us evil, Secular Progressives are in charge here, the new boomtowns springing up around that Athabasca (Oil)Sandbox are looking mighty good, we might just trigger an exodus to the Great White North.
A good stoning or two or, maybe, a few encounters with a lion here and there, should stampede that herd. From Jeremy Leaming at Americans United for the Separation…;
“The Religious Right’s obsession over same-sex marriage is no longer limited to the United States.
In the generally more liberal nation of Canada, Religious Right groups and individuals are using same-sex marriage as a means to raise money and create a religio-political movement similar to the one that cropped up in America in the early 1980s.
According to a report in The New York Times(sorry, the link led to the Times Select wall), some of those fledgling groups have even turned to one-time influential Religious Right honcho, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, to help build Canada’s Religious Right.
Charles McVety, head of “several evangelical Christian” groups and president of the Canada Christian College in Toronto has, according to The Times, asked Falwell and “other American evangelical leaders” for pointers on fomenting anger over gay marriage.
McVety’s groups and other Christian right ones are trying to pressure the Canadian Parliament to reopen debate on the 2005 law that permits gay marriage in the nation. The Times reports that issue of same-sex marriage is riling some conservative Christian groups “like never before.”
Canada’s Conservative Party is gaining traction after a long run of power by the nation’s Liberal Party. Stephen Harper, the Conservative Party’s leader, became prime minister in January 2006, ending more than a decade of control by the Liberal Party. Harper, like President George W. Bush here, is apparently set on pleasing the Religious Right element of his party. Harper is also pushing Parliament to revisit the gay marriage law.
Jonathan Malloy, a political science professor at an Ottawa university, says that the Religious Right is growing and that attacking gay marriage is a way “to organize and keep the funds going.”
Sounds a lot like what the Religious Right does in this country. Falwell and other prominent Religious Right groups and individuals have demonized gays for many years and continue to use same-sex marriage as way to fire up their base and fill their coffers.
It’s an unseemly movement and one that no nation should want to replicate. Canada needs to learn from our mistake and seal its borders against the likes of Falwell and his legions of intolerance.”
29 November 2006, on 12:47 am
Jerry Falwell…man, where are the effects of high cholesterol when you really need it? I’ve lived just to the east of Toronto for three years now and Harper and his homophobic bunch are trying (hopefully in vain) to reopen the “gay marriage debate”. Usually these sort of votes only get a majority out west in Alberta - must be the “cowboy mentality”.
I knew Harper would fuck things up as soon as he won.
29 November 2006, on 1:01 am
Gah! Furgen…arghenfurgenshchiendenfit..!
…
Sorry, that was the sound of me scooping up my brain and shoving back inside my skull.
Is there a growing evangelical movement up here in Canada? My Canada!? No. Can’t be. Canada? With Falwell fatties and everything? Geez!
29 November 2006, on 1:29 am
You know, in my political science class, I once stood up for gay marriage when I stated that the marriage ban amendment to the MO constitution was crap. Of course instead of attempting to prove me wrong, all the people in that class did was either ignore me, or roll their eyes at me.
In that class, was a lesbian. She asked me after class why I stood up for gay rights. Did I have a gay relative or friend? No. Was I gay? No. I did it because it was the right thing to do. I did it because I saw a wrong that must be righted.
I earned respect that day. Which is something Falwell and his ilk will never, ever truly earn. His sheep only “respect” him because they think their non-existant sky daddy wants them too. That’s not respect.
That woman is an awesome person, and I quite enjoyed being in the same class as her.
Which is why it breaks my heart when I hear hateful, bigoted morons like Falwell tear down these people.
This is also why I do NOT respect these morons.
But sure, open it back up. Maybe Canada will get lucky enough to expose the tired, and crap arguments used since there is ZERO reason to outlaw it.
29 November 2006, on 2:31 am
I swear, RDZ, you’d better shut your filthy mouth. Such wicked talk! I’m holding you responsible if I start seeing any kind of “exodus” of your fuckhead fundies up here. I will personally come down there and kick the biggest bibble I can find up your bloody ass.
Fortunately, right now, we have the vast majority of our own asshats confined to Alberta. UNfortunately, one of them did escape to Ottawa. But, no worries. He’s letting Quebec be their own nation, so maybe the Albertans will get their nationhood, too, and then they can legislate themselves back to the Dark Ages they so adore.
Me? I’m going to petition to be a nation unto myself. Then, I’m raising the taxes to 100% of my income, so I can collect it all and spend it on medicinal marijuana — ’cause healthcare is #1 on my campaign promises for when I run for Premiere. Gee, I sure do hope I vote for myself.
29 November 2006, on 2:48 am
Please Canadians, I beg you, do not let the fundies infiltrate your great country. Canada is my place of refuge in case it ever gets too bad down here. I’m not a big traveller and Victoria is just a hop, skip and a jump from Portland (I visit every summer while on holiday).
I’m sure if you look hard enough you can find something on Falwell to deny him entrance into your country.
29 November 2006, on 3:02 am
Audrey, my bandmates and I tried to petition the Dutch government to colonize our house and touring van a decade ago. Guess they weren’t keen on a shitty house in the student ghetto of Lexington, KY- or a US franchise of Amsterdam’s Red Light district that didn’t even charge for the exchange of depravity. That, and we were self-described Druids, which everyone knows means you make it up as you go along, since no one knows just exactly what a Druid was beyond oaks, mistletoe, and magic. For instance, our Druidry consisted of plans to found a chain of baby farms where intelligent men and women would breed like our idiot counterparts just to keep pace, plans to engineer a threesome with both my bi-girlfriend and Ashley Judd(man, we really dropped the ball on that one by moving from Lexington, where she was, to Brooklyn, where she wasn’t and we never saw her agin until she showed up on Star Trek billing and cooing with Wil Wheaton), and the standard plans for World Domination. Fortunately- or unfortunately depending on where you stand, we were far too immersed in Kentucky’s real number one cash crop to do anything more than plan and plan some more and the wily Netherlands simply ignored us until we forgot they were supposed to be paying attention.
I’m sorry, Canucks, but I’ve just never really forgiven you, first for Paul Shafer, Triumph and Bryan Adams, then for Alannis Morrisette, and, always, for that dreaded Alberta Clipper. Plus, though I know it’s probably irrational, I can’t help but hold you responsible for what that “Big Lake they call Gitchie-Gumi” did to the Edmund Fitzgerald.
O, Canada, we stand on God for thee!
29 November 2006, on 6:38 am
Charles McKety and his wife look like one of those couples promoting a dodgy MLM
29 November 2006, on 7:29 am
Damn that McVety! I saw him on the TVO show “The Big Picture” recorded in Toronto, in which some “controversial” documentary is presented and afterwards an audience has a discussion about it. The episode i saw presented “The Root of All Evil” and they had Dawkins participate in the discussion via satellite. McVety was one of the audience members and made quite an ass of himself. At one point in response to the host’s question about who is to decide how to “correctly” interpret the bible, McVety declared “the bible interprets itself!”, and everyone in the audience burst out in laughter. Regarding same-sex marriage i believe he made the argument that not allowing him and his xian cohorts to stifle the rights of homosexuals, would be a violation of his rights and oppression of xians. Seriously. He’s a moron.
29 November 2006, on 11:15 am
Canadian here, eh. I wouldn’t be too worried about the Morality Mafia getting a strong foothold in the Great White North. The politicos can debate gay marriage all they want but our Charter of Rights and Freedoms specifically protects the rights of homosexuals from being discriminated against. This is a battle they lost long ago, and they just like to bring it up over and over to appease the small (but vocal) religious right voting block. Every time the fundies come out screaming against gay marriage, they further marginalize themselves from the majority of Canadians who tend to lean to left. Most Canadians see Falwell as the ass-clown that he is, and his involvement is sure to hurt the Canadian fundies more than help them.
29 November 2006, on 1:02 pm
PM Steven Harper said they would have another parliamentary vote on the issue of same sex marriage during this fall session. It hasn’t happened yet. There’s a petition and email form at Canadians for Equal Marriage that every Canadian who values freedom should sign and submit.
29 November 2006, on 2:46 pm
I’m a hoser as well, and I’m not that worried about our PM’s latest move. Basically he is going to ask parliment if they want to re-open the debate. Parliment is, by all indications, going to say “no”. At that point, our PM can go to his supporters in the religious right and say “Well, I tried”. At the same time, he doesn’t risk the ire of the rest of the country by actually trying to reverse the law on same-sex marriage. Whatever you say about Harper (like, that he’s playing politics with other people’s hard-won civil rights), he’s pretty smooth.
Same-sex marriage is here to stay. As s8n666 pointed out, any law against it would be nullified by our charter of rights and freedoms. Also, if they did try to out-law it again, what would they do with the folks who already got hitched? Nullify their marraiges? The public out-cry would be huge.
29 November 2006, on 3:57 pm
Since when has anything, such as the Constitution, or the Charter, meant anything to fundies?
They don’t care, and if they get a foothold in your government, the Charter is going right out the window.
So don’t sit back and think your Charter will fix things. The Charter, like the Constitution, needs to be maintained by the people as well.
29 November 2006, on 4:14 pm
With any foresight, the Canadians will erect a border fence.
And anyway, I thought boorish, selfish thuggery was illegal up there. Huh.
29 November 2006, on 6:33 pm
No, no, not Canada! Just stay on your toes up there against the fundies, OK?
29 November 2006, on 6:54 pm
Don’t worry about us Canadians. We’ll stand on guard for thee.
30 November 2006, on 9:30 pm
Bruce, I have the same contingency plan. In fact, all four of us (me, hubby, 2 small kids) are going to get our passports this summer, just in case. We qualify to emigrate to Canada, we just don’t have enough money. I think it was $10,000 per person if moving without a job to sponsor you. If I could find a job there, even better. I’m a technical writer, so I qualify as a skilled/educated worker. Surely our Canadian atheist friends wouldn’t mind a few more of the godless among their ranks.