Is that your final answer, John?

OC Transpo's John Donaldson has really dug himself into a hole here:

Donaldson stressed the decision [to reject atheist bus ads] is not based on what he personally finds offensive, but rather what he and his informal committee thinks other people would find offensive. He would not speculate when asked if a sign that said “There Probably Is a God” would also be rejected.

“That’s kind of hypothetical,” he said. “There are lots of ways of phrasing things in a harmless, inoffensive manner and there are others that are more provocative.”

"Hypothetical?" I'm sorry, John, but you don't get that convenient escape hatch. After all, John:

“Just because of the advanced publicity on this campaign, we already know that people will be offended,” Donaldson said.

In other words, John, those ads weren't rejected based on actual protests; rather, they were rejected based on what you perceived as likely, future hypothetical protests. And once you've taken that stand, John, you're kind of stuck having to address any future "hypotheticals" as well, wouldn't you say? After all, John, once you've based your case on a total hypothetical, you don't get to claim that anyone else's hypotheticals are out of bounds. But wait ... it gets better.

Over at JJ's place, Jennifer Smith makes the claim:

Just to play Devil’s Advocate for a moment (ha ha), the TTC does apparently allow ‘religious’ advertising, while OC Transpo (officially) does not.

Now, I have no idea of knowing if that's true, but if it is, then John is in even more trouble. Let's refresh our memories:

[Donaldson] would not speculate when asked if a sign that said “There Probably Is a God” would also be rejected.

Um ... what? If it is in fact true that religious advertising of any kind is not accepted by OC Transpo, then one has to wonder why Donaldson's reply to the above wasn't simply, "Nope, we wouldn't take that either." After all, it's clearly religious, so it would seem that Donaldson's position would be an absolute no-brainer. Instead, given what is clearly religious advertising, Donaldson now refuses to take a position. How ... convenient.

And, not surprisingly, we're not done here. Back in a bit with more smackdown.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! As Dr. Dawg points out, someone's life is about to get very uncomfortable:

The chair of Ottawa's transit committee will demand that city staff explain why they refused to allow atheist ads on city buses, even though ads quoting the Bible have been approved by the city and could appear on buses at any time.

And since John is all about the public outrage, I believe you should give John a call and let him know how totally, totally offended you are by the horrific and violent misogyny of the "Good" Book. You can reach him here:

John Donaldson
Email: john.donaldson@ottawa.ca
Telephone: 613-842-3636 x2430

Tell him I sent you. And be polite -- don't call him a "douchebag" unless the situation demands it.

On your marks ... get set ... lawsuit!

You have nothing to do for the next few minutes, right?

Those angry, angry feminists.

In other news, a bunch of neo-Nazis beat the shit out of a bunch of leftists and peace activists, but we were talking about angry feminists, weren't we?

BONUS TRACK: Chet wants to warn you about angry feminists as well.

Fern speak.

You listen.

Yes, now.

No one loves their job as much as I do.

As my online support group, I just thought you all needed to know that.

Gas. Them. All.

Seriously, why is any sane person listening to these deranged yahoos anymore?

John Donaldson is an idiot.

If there is a stupider human being in Ottawa than OC Transpo's John Donaldson, that person is staying well hidden:

Calling it a “violation of the charter’s defence of free speech,” an atheist group is planning a Supreme Court challenge of OC Transpo’s decision to disallow a controversial ad from appearing on its buses.

The ad, which says “There’s Probably No God. Now Stop Worrying and Enjoy Your Life,” was rejected based on a clause in OC Transpo’s advertising policy that states, “Religious advertising which promotes a specific ethic, point of view or action that might be offensive to users of the transit system is not permitted,” said John Donaldson, the city’s program manager of transit, marketing and customer service.

"We had a look at the policy and our response was we should not be running that ad,” he said.

And while one might simply shake their head at Donaldson's absolutely stunning retarditude, we can be grateful that he's clearly defined what is and is not acceptable ... like, say, ads that promote a fetus-fetishist, "pro-life" agenda since those ads would be similarly religious in nature and would promote "a specific ethic, point of view or action that might be offensive to users of the transit system."

The left-wing strategy is now obvious -- start watching for OC Transpo ads promoting the anti-choice philosophy and let John Donaldson know that you're offended. Deeply.

And if anyone has Mr. Donaldson's contact info, I'd be happy to post it here. I'm sure he very much wants to hear your opinion. He said so himself.

I'M AMUSED by this little snippet:

"Just because of the advanced publicity on this campaign, we already know that people will be offended,” Donaldson said.

So what's happening here is not that those ads are offending people; no, Mr. Donaldson has taken it upon himself to predict what the response will be and act pre-emptively; you know, just in case. One wonders why he didn't allow the ads, then monitor the response, since he openly admits he has the authority to yank those ads if things get out of hand:

“We receive complaints about advertising material of all kinds of different subjects,” Donaldson said. “The same thing applies — if people are offended, and let us know about it, then there’s a provision in the contract to ...remove it.”

But what Donaldson has done here is rather clever. See, if those ads had been accepted and had started to run, and they really and truly offended some folks, then those folks would have had to protest, and it would have been hugely entertaining to hear the thin-skinned whining from, say, some of Ottawa's religious leaders, who are perpetually yapping on about freedom of religious expression and shit like that. But if those leaders had started to protest the bus ads, well, the delightful hypocrisy would have been on spectacular and glorious display.

No problem, though, as Mr. Donaldson rides to the rescue by not allowing the campaign to even get started, saving all those religious leaders the embarrassment of having to go public and explain how their concept of religious freedom doesn't extend to, you know, atheists.

It must be nice for Ottawa's religious poohbahs to have an obedient poodle like Donaldson making their lives easier. Why humiliate yourself in public when a quiet phone call will do just as well? Good boy, John ... you have served your Christian masters well. Have a biscuit.

Kathy Shaidle: Douchebag!

Via Raphael Alexander, we learn of Five Feet of Fecal Matter's latest douchebaggery, to wit:

• Anorexic, trampy slut Ann Coulter defends white supremacist hate group,


• Right-wing douche accuses the SPLC of journalistic dishonesty,


• La Shaidle links approvingly to aforementioned douche, after which the fun really starts when ...


• Of all people, LGF's Charles Johnson weighs in.

Seriously, how bad have things gotten when LGF's Johnson is the relative voice of honesty and integrity?

Oh, dear Lord ...

In terms of badness, if you don't understand the term "exponential," go look it up.

Dear Globe and Mail: I think you're missing a golden opportunity here.

A few weeks back, the Grope and Flail's Adam Radwanski was in a begging mood, begging for -- I don't know -- some reasonable voices of Canadian conservatism:

Calling all Conservatives

... That Stephen Harper's party is disinclined to make itself accessible is hardly news, and it's considered bad form for journalists to complain about it. But I raise it here for a couple of reasons.

One, this isn't just a case of the Conservatives declining to talk to journalists; it's a case of them refusing to talk to you. If they don't want to do an interview with follow-up questions with someone like me, as Brison did this week, they don't have to. We're offering a forum for them to get their views out, unfiltered, to the public - be it in a direct back-and-forth with readers, or in the submission of articles they've written themselves. All we're asking is that they participate in a public dialogue.

A perfectly reasonable position, except that Adam puts some conditions on it:

We'll continue to invite specific Conservatives, as we do members of the other parties. But here's an open invitation as well. If you're a Conservative of some standing - an MP, a Senator, a party executive, a backroom operator - we want to hear from you.

"Of some standing?" That's kind of disappointing, as Blogging Tory Victor Wong points out:

Well. That “some standing” qualifier pretty much blocks out most of the Blogging Tories, and the “not a press release” thing is going to warrant a few second looks.

Yes, Vic, it would appear to disqualify the vast majority of BTs, which is, I will admit, unfortunate, since I don't think the G&M has any idea what it's missing out on here. Personally, I am all in favour of that paper giving a regular voice to Stephen Taylor's stable of xenophobic, homophobic racists, bigots and scientific illiterates. I don't think you could get that kind of entertainment anywhere else at that price so, herewith, I'm going to invite Adam to open up some space in order that we, the readership, can enjoy any and all of the following:

• Dr. Roy, gushing over white supremacist screech harpy Ann Coulter on a regular basis and seeing how many times he can squeeze in a colonial reference to "Her Majesty's" PM Stephen Harper. Oh, and telling us how funny he thinks Dennis Miller is.


• The hopelessly and painfully dishonest Kate McMillan, whose motto might most properly be summarized as, "No apologies. No excuses. No accuracy."


• The daily crime report of "Neo Conservative," who never met a violent death of a minority that didn't give him the giggles and a little woody.


• Steve Janke, whose obsession with dead Oriental women is exceeded only by his obsession with Cindy Sheehan's vagina. And getting everything painfully, relentlessly wrong.


• The kids over at The Politic, for whom evolution is just a liberal plot to corrupt our morals and values. Or fluoridate our drinking water, whichever makes less sense,


• "Gay and Right" Fred, who addresses gay issues from the right side of the political spectrum by blogging incessantly about the Jews. Even if they're not gay.


• Sandy Crux, whose children at this point must be wondering how long they can afford to keep her in adult diapers and whether, dear God, there is a bottom to Alzheimer's or it just keeps getting depressingly worse.


• Celestial Junk's "Paul," who never met a cogent argument he couldn't misunderstand. And whose refutation of global warming is that it was cold somewhere yesterday so whaddya have to say to that, huh? Huh?


• And, of course, the perpetually racist Raphael Alexander, for whom Canadians fall into two distinct categories: "real" ones, and ones who aren't white.

So, Adam, I'm begging you -- can't you find it in your heart to open up a spot for Stephen Taylor's BTs? I guarantee you no end of excitement, readership and animated feedback. Not in a good way, mind you, but these are the Blogging Tories so it's not as if they wouldn't meet your expectations, as long as those expectations are suitably low.

I'm thinking "non-existent" would be a good place to start.

Wow.

Who knew you could actually be too crazy for the average Blogging Tory?

P.S. Stephen Taylor. Proud, proud, proud. Lather, rinse, repeat.

P.P.S. Happy now?

Is it just me ...

Or have the Blogging Tards Tories – of whom Stephen Taylor must be inordinately proud – given up any attempt to hide their racist mouthbreather tendencies?

Don’t believe me? Take a wander through these two glaring examples from Raphael "if that’s really his name" Alexander in the comments over at Dr. Dawg’s joint.

I don't think it's just me.

Your Freudian slip is showing.

Dear dr. roy and Papa Junker:

How’s that unfortunate, leg-humping man crush on Ann "The Hag that Walks like a Woman" Coulter working out for you two lonely hearts?

Oh. Dear.

Forget I asked ... no, really.

Yours in ever-increasing hilarity,
LuLu

P.S. Stephen Taylor must be just beyond proud.

That new talking point is going to be awkward.

Shorter Canadian wankers: "Under our glorious leader Stephen Harper, Canada is poised to come out of the recession in much better shape than the rest of the G7. And do you know why? I'll tell you why -- because of a fundamental, core conservative principle: tougher federal regulatory controls. Because nothing says admirable right-wing governance like stronger financial oversight and ... and ... um ... OK, did not think that one through."

The Angry, Angry ... Left?

Dear wankers: Sure, let's talk about civility, shall we? Hang on a minute and let me get comfortable.

P.S. I know where you're coming from, Warren, as one Patrick Ross of Edmonton once threatened to track me down and physically assault me, so I can sympathize.

P.P.S. Dear Google: "Patrick Ross." "Threats." "Violent." "Physical assault." There we go -- that should keep any potential human resource co-ordinators busy for a few minutes when they get Twatsy's job application.

Oh la la …

The fact that I just received the most breathtaking bouquet of Gerbera daisies in no way detracts from my cynical position on Valentine's Day as a whole.

So there.

Norm Coleman: Asshat.

I will almost be sad to see this end.

P.S. In case you're wondering what this fiasco is all about, the conventional wisdom is that Normie has been given his marching orders to drag this out as long as humanly possible to keep Franken from being seated and to deprive the Senate Dems of an important vote, given how close they are to having a filibuster-proof 60 Senators. After which conventional wisdom says that Normie will be rewarded for his obstructionism with a nice, cushy job in a right-wing think tank somewhere.

Anyway, that's what the conventional wisdom says. I'm tending to agree.

Happy crass commercialization of an ephemeral emotion day!

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

-William Butler Yeats-

In honour of this overly-marketed, give presents in an attempt to get laid occasion, the world’s most beautiful love song.



Now just try and tell me that didn't bring a tear to your eye -- personally, I’m beyond verklempt. You're welcome, I'm sure.

Oh, Lord, this may never get old.

Shorter Five Feet of Diarrhetic Discharge: "As God is my witness, I will do everything in my power to resist the evil of civility and political correctness, and will remain an ugly, shrieky racist and bigot. And the reason fewer and fewer people want to associate with me? Liberal censorship."

Stealing shamelessly from Warren Kinsella when he was mocking Ezra Levant, Kathy Shaidle is a loathsome little troll who begs for crucifixion, then complains about the view.

Saturday Morning Cartoons.

An all "Daffy Duck" edition this week, I think – Duck Amuck and Robin Hood Daffy.

Stand back, musketeers, they shall sample ... my ... blade?



Look no further, good friar, for I am he for whomst thou seekest!



Have I mentioned how much I love coffee? I have? Oh goody.

In fact, no one loves coffee more than I do today -- March Madness has come 2 weeks early this year. If this keeps up, I'll be dead or in a padded cell by April 1st.