In the Twilight Hours

A few thoughts before bedtime.

If He didn't exist, then explain this LOL.

Is this about Stephen Hawking or about a guy in a wheelchair?

So why does Hawking get awarded this status by the idolatory press? It’s time to stop being squeamish and take the bull by the horns. The Cult of Hawking is the Cult of the Great Mind in the Useless Body. It is attributable in part to a simple, ghoulish fascination with the man’s physical disability, but more so (and more troublingly) to the unspoken astonishment that a man with such severe bodily impairment can be intelligent. It speaks volumes about our persistent prejudices about disability.

Related: the fetish with the perpetually furious:

Although faculty generally oppose religion in the public sphere, many endorse the idea that Muslims should express their religious beliefs in American politics.  Faculty are far less likely to endorse Evangelical Christians expressing their beliefs in American politics.

In fact, the study found that 71% of faculty believed that "this country would be better off if Christian fundamentalists kept their religious beliefs out of politics," whereas only 38% opposed Muslim beliefs being represented in public policy.   In other words, Christians should just shut up.

Scum of the earth (WARNING: shocking images).



Caledonia II: The Return:

A group of Mohawk Warriors has set up camp in a section of High Park, on land it says is a sacred burial site that has been over-run by off-road cyclists....


The natives arrived Friday in a forest at the south-east section of the park, near Parkside Drive and The Queensway, and pitched three tents. They affixed three red Mohawk Warrior flags to tall dead tree branches, which they lashed to trees and stumps. Also tied to trees: two purple flags of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy.

The campers said Monday they had no choice but to occupy the park, because the city has ignored their demands that it stop mountain bike riders from using the area, and they plan to stay until it is restored.

“We want the same rights and protections as any cemetery has,” said Rick MacRae, 51, who gave the spirit name Northern Medicine Wolf. Mr. MacRae sat by a smouldering fire in the drizzle, under the protection of several tarps strung between the tall oaks. “Nobody would go and ride bikes in a Christian cemetery or a Jewish cemetery.”...

Yesterday, William Chief, a Cree from Loon Lake, Sask., worked with a shovel, leveling out one section of the sandy soil. As he worked, his BlackBerry buzzed; a correspondent asked, “How is your protest going today?”

He typed back, “I am still here in the rain, shoveling.”

As he worked, a flatbed truck with a crane attached pulled up outside a nearby gate, unloading a cement bunker about the size of a garden shed. Mr. Chief said it was a loan from the City of Toronto, as a spot for the occupiers to store their tools. The city is also delivering a portable toilet, he said.

Councillor Sarah Doucette (Parkdale-High Park), who met with the natives last Tuesday at City Hall, said she is aware of the “sit-in” and is “OK with it.”

“The city has had archeologists go and test, they’ve had about 40 test pits, and it does not show it to be a burial mound. However, we realize that the BMX bikes, as great as exercise and fresh air for these kids as it is, we want to return High Park to what it should be,” Ms. Doucette added.

“We have requested that they not be in the park at night time. It’s trespassing if you’re in there during that time. Eleven Division police have been brilliant, they’re going to be going by there more often,” said Ms. Doucette, who is focused now on finding a new location for the BMX bikers.

Staff-Sgt. Niels Sondergaard of 11 Division said he understands that the City of Toronto has approved the camping for an undetermined length of time.

We have the identification of thugs calling themselves "warriors", the stereotypical Indian spiritual name which just makes one look like a caricature and a jackass, the Chinese-made Blackberry in the hands of the "oppressed", the complete lack of evidence that the park was EVER an archeological site, moral equivalence and spineless local government and police refusing to do anything about this matter.


It's going to be a long summer.


Enjoy your backyard, Torontonians.




This is what vindication looks like. Now apologise to traditional marriage activists. Be adults about this.


It's still wrong.


(hat tips all around)



And now, the Muppets just got more awesome.