I never realised Doug Ford didn’t think women drove. No, seriously. I laboured under the delusion Doug and his brother Mayor Rob were mayors of all citizens of the sprawling mess we lovingly call the GTA, not just the men in their little enclave in the suburbs. It’s difficult to separate the muddled meanderings of the two, and it’s painfully obvious Doug is Mayor part two. I knew from the start neither of them didn’t believe the vast majority of Torontonians were worth a lick of salt, we being dangerous, lefty, elite pinkos and all, but never in my wildest ponderings did I think the Fords were so sexist as to think only men drove cars in this city.

Why else would Doug Ford suggest Hooter’s Tow Truck service? Yes, I know (or hope) he was attempting to be funny, but suggesting a Hooters sponsored tow truck to help with a flat tire, smacks of a juvenile wet dream. Let’s have a woman dressed in short shorts and tank tops pop around with the tow truck driver to serve up an order of wings – nothing like a stereo type to boost the male ego! Or is Mayor Doug expecting the Hooters woman to change the man’s flat tire too? Don’t hand me any crap about “It’ll just be the wings, not the girl” either. If he meant fast food, then why did he specify Hooters – the symbol of corporate objectification of women, rather than an order of wings and fries.

Better yet Doug, will we get Hooters Boys? Can we specify which type of sexism we would like to patronize? Bad enough he and his brother are acting as shills for the corporate world and attempting to gut any program they personally don’t use, now we have to endure inane musings like Hooters service for a flat tire. Nothing like city hall sanctioned sexism to enhance Toronto’s reputation.

Here’s a news flash Mayor Tweedledee, women drive. We also vote.

What has me so bothered by Republican Presidential candidates weighing in on the trial? A little thing called judicial independence. Each one seems to think being President means they have the right, no the duty to interfere with the courts. They are also using it to beat Obama around the head with accusations he did not step in to ensure Anthony was convicted. It isn’t the President’s job to do this. If anything, he should remain silent.

Sarah Palin may not have declared herself, but we all know she’s such a media ****** she will eventually. She said ““It’s almost strange that the president has not yet made one statement on the issue of the death of young Caylee Anthony. Why the strange silence, Mr. President?”

Is it me, or did Palin just accuse the President of being a closet child killer. At the very least she is implying Obama is happy the accused child murderer was set free. What would she have Obama say?  Do we really need a politician stating the obvious. Aside from the fact this would be seen as interfering with STATE laws if Obama spoke out on the trial, Palin would be the first to stand up and screech Obama is interfering in State rights.

Michelle Bachmann, another right wing evangelical who wouldn’t know the truth if it reared up and bit her in the ass said this: “Well, I’ve been visiting all the primary states, and I’ve been talking to people, and people all over the place are asking me, why, in Barack Obama’s America, someone who murders a baby who happens to be white doesn’t get punished.” There we have it boys and girls, no suspected white child killer has been found not guilty in the entire history of the US of A. until a black man took office. This isn’t just a superficial statement, it reeks of political opportunism. This is one of the stupidest statements I have ever heard.

And finally Herman Cain stepped into this mess. Let’s play spot the problems with this: “I can promise you Casey Anthony and anyone else who I think might’ve killed their children will have no business in a Herman Cain administration. President Cain would look her right in the eyes and ask her point blank if she killed that little girl, we’d get right to the bottom of it.”

Cain is stating clearly he sees no problem with using his position to 1) interfere with the judicial process and 2) not worry about guilt or innocence, if he things the person is guilty, he’ll manipulate the system to see “justice” done. The key words here are “I think  might’ve”. It’s up to the courts not individuals to determine this. Like it or not, justice doesn’t always prevail, but that’s reality. To step over the courts and institute mob style rule guarantees one thing – a lot of innocent people will die.

The child’s death was tragic enough. Do we really need politicians stomping on her body to push their own political careers?

For those of you who don’t follow certain seedier elements of society, Duke is the former head of the Klu Klux Klan, a white power, anti-Semitic nonsense spewer who coincidently is also a convicted criminal. He’s already made 5 unsuccessful bids for the President’s seat. This time, he believes the temperature is just right. Tea Party have been so busy stirring up extreme fear of the scary black man and Muslim in power, they’ve created a perfect storm of intolerance that allows snakes like Duke to slither into public view again.

His website is curiously quiet on this so we’ll have to wait and see if he was just yanking some chains to see how much bullshit he could stir up, or whether it’s a serious intent. Either way, the last thing our friends to the south need is one more whiney, sulking, self righteous idiot making life more difficult for them. The only difference between Duke and the rest of the Tea Party candidates, is Duke doesn’t hide his white sheet.

The breath taking irony of her speech was her implied criticism of the Obama administration for waging what Palin sees as open ended and ill-defined wars, which kind of defines Bush’s Iraq War. Yet Palin praises Bush for making Osama’s death possible, “We thank President Bush for having made the right calls to set up this victory”, ignoring the fact he dragged the USA into 2 wars that had no exit strategies or clear cut missions. She further implies Obama is responsible for the lack of direction for the Iraq War::

There’s a lesson here then for the effective use of force, as opposed to sending our troops on missions that are ill-defined. And it can be argued that our involvement elsewhere, say in Libya, is an example of a lack of clarity. See, these are deadly serious questions that we must ask ourselves when we contemplate sending Americans into harm’s way. Our men and women in uniform deserve a clear understanding of U.S. positions on such a crucial decision. I believe our criteria before we send our young men and women—America’s finest—into harm’s way should be spelled out clearly when it comes to the use of our military force. I can tell you what I believe that criteria should be in five points.
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Second, if we have to fight, we fight to win. To do that, we use overwhelming force. We only send our troops into war with the objective to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible. We do not stretch out our military with open-ended and ill-defined missions. Nation building is a nice idea in theory, but it is not the main purpose of our armed forces. We use our military to win wars.

And third, we must have clearly defined goals and objectives before sending troops into harm’s way. If you can’t explain the mission to the American people clearly and concisely, then our sons and daughters should not be sent into battle. Period.

I think this is a speech she should have given years ago to the Bush administration.

Sarah Palin – Proud holder of a life time membership card to Delusions R Us.

So what I have liberal views? Seriously.. so what? Is it against the law? Is being anything but a conservative a threat to democracy? On the contrary, I’d say people who blindly support Harper are the true threat to democracy. Disagree? Check his record of contempt for the democratic process – when the going gets tough, Harper prorogues or dismisses Parliamentary procedure as an irrelevant distraction.

Using a term like “card carrying liberal” simply warns the public the person uttering it is a fool who needs a history lesson.

How do these people manage to get dressed in the morning? Quite frankly I’m shocked they manage to crawl out from under their beds, let alone make it out the door to confront the evil, twisted world they inhabit. I just saw an online petition to stop the “[teaching of] appalling homosexual acts” in public schools. Funny, my dictionary defines tolerance as: “the ability or willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or behaviour that one dislikes or disagrees with” (Oxford). Not a whisper about sex acts. These people are ridiculous beyond belief. They are incapable of independent thought or rational thinking. They froth at the mouth about homosexuality being against the Bible and Jesus will condemn them, blah blah blah… I guess compassion isn’t in their odd little Dictionary of Intolerant Behaviour. Must have been eradicated during the last edit

Want to know how paranoid and silly these people are? Here’s the petition they are pushing:

Hyperbole is one of their strengths. Out and out lieing is another. These are the same people who scream discrimination the moment any laws enforcing separation of church and state are used. With rampant stupidity like this, is it any wonder so many of us demand a total separation? They go on and on about some mythical “radical homosexual agenda”. Does this agenda come with a day-timer?

I figure, these folks are much more dangerous than my gay neighbours. Not once have any of my neighbours banged on my door demanding to know what I do in private, or that I support them in any way. However, I have had dealings with fundamentalists who have called me incredibly rude things because I wouldn’t sign their petitions. You get called even worse things if you challenge one of the ones proselytizing. When you ask a fundie a question they react like a vampire exposed to daylight – they cringe and scream. Anyone else think fundies are a bit Lady McBethish? The Fundies doth protest too much?

I think they should just crawl back into their caves and leave the general public alone. Their fundamentalist rabies is detrimental to a sane and well functioning society.

If you have a strong stomach, you can check out their vile petition. It’s brought to you by the same folks that have completely destroyed the word Patriot. Be warned, stupidity stains.

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Thanks to Eeeegads for tweeting about this petition.