The STO(M)P Sign

Note: This post is not about cycling. Once upon a time, when I was a sincerely religious child attending Catholic school in London, Ontario, I was confronted with a strange document. It was in Religion class. Religion had gone from learning arcane rituals for First Communion (which I loved – it was like joining a [...]

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More proof that I am a pinko hippie no good liberal defeatist Commie symp

I’ve been following via Twitter the launch of SunTV. That’s right, the newspaper chain dedicated to making you deathly afraid of pit bulls, PCP-crazed gangs, and flu shots now has a TV station. Because the airwaves aren’t clogged enough with right-wing rants of dubious factuality. Anyway, as I said, I’ve been following this on Twitter, [...]

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Mark your calendars!

Taken with my cellphone on Davenport Rd just before you go under the underpass of death that connects it to Dupont. For your edification: Failed end of the world predictions from 30 CE to 1920 CE So, to clarify, I do NOT think the world will end on May 21, 2011.  In fact, I would [...]

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Last week: Bad times on planet Earth

This week: BETTER times on planet Earth. I promise! Look, we are going to be positive if it KILLS US! Just to get it out of the way, a list of things to not be positive about: – earthquake, tsunami, nuclear disaster – bombing of Libya (even if you don’t like Quaddafi, this is still [...]

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Signs that you may be dealing with a crackpot

I try to give people, even people with apparently bizarre beliefs, the benefit of the doubt.  Lots of things which are at first glance ridiculous – the success of the Left Behind books comes to mind – turn out to be real or true, after all. But when you’re talking with someone, there are certain [...]

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Hound Party Manifesto

Yesterday evening I was walking the dogs and we past a local bar that seemed to be holding some kind of function.  It turned out to be a Green Party fundraiser/meeting. Gus, while he doesn’t like the kind of parties that involve strangers coming to your house and making you stay up late, was taken [...]

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Flame bait!

People, we need to increase the traffic around here.  It’s pathetic.  Since the “be really good and attract an audience through your writing, consistency of posting, and original thought” route is obviously off the table, I’m going to go with the “throw out a list of inflammatory statements and/or buzzwords and hope for the best”. [...]

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Book review: The Great Derangement by Matt Taibbi

Last year I read an excerpt from this book (“Jesus made me puke” – Taibbi’s account of his bizarre weekend at a John Hagee-sponsored retreat) and thought, “No way.  This can’t be real.  Nobody is casting out ‘the demon of the intellect’* and exhorting believers to vomit.”   But like all good skeptics I suspended judgement [...]

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The Communist Manifesto was better*

OK, so even though I said I would try to stop myself from exploring the dark, dark world of Quiverfull, I couldn’t help myself from looking up Alan Carlson and Paul T. Mero’s The Natural Family: A Manifesto. This has led me to another conclusion I didn’t come to yesterday: these people actually hate children. [...]

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My patriarchy researches

As you may already know, I recently read and had my mind blown by Kathryn Joyce’s Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement.  Now, my general media consumption pattern is as follows: – I run across something by accident, usually something nerdy – I dabble in it for a little while – I become increasingly obsessed [...]

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