Getting the Government You Deserve

 

 

Reading the comments that follow a news article is a good way of gauging its impact or veracity. The popular press is essentially a pack of regurgitating tools, anyway, and what better way to illustrate that than their audience's reaction.

Is the reader thinking on his or her feet or is he or she a parrot frightened of his or her shadow?

You decide.

The pudding's proof, as it were:

Conservative Party leadership candidate Brad Trost’s campaign is not backing down after controversial comments Tuesday about his discomfort with the idea of people being gay.

“In case you haven’t noticed, Brad’s not entirely comfortable with the whole gay thing. And if you haven’t noticed, you have not been paying attention,” campaign spokesman Mike Patton said in a “campaign update” video put out on social media Tuesday.

The campaign had sent a fundraising email Monday evening that promised Trost would never participate in gay pride events, and as a political leader would never subsidize such events.

“For sure, Brad is not a big fan of the gay lifestyle. But what you do in private is your business. What you literally do in the middle of the street needs to conform to some basic community standards,” Patton said. He called some behaviour in pride parades over-sexualized and “so inappropriate for public viewing.”

Watch the readership soil its collective shorties:

 

To be fair, not everyone flipped out on what is actually a mainstream opinion. Most people are indifferent to people's choice of lifestyle. They simply don't want it hammered into them nor do they want it flaunted in their kids' face.

The big deal is for people incapable of social, emotional or political nuance in opinions, things Mr. Trost is still allowed to express before the true defenders of a mad theocratic state - the ones who rammed through Motion 103, for example - clamp down on them.

So much for defending political or social conservatism, alleged followers of fashion.

And if his opinions are so noxious that one would rather vote for anyone but Trost (or whoever), then get used to a government one claims to hate. If one is not willing to unseat the cream of the crap, do everyone a favour and stow it. You sound like naggy old women worried that the sky will fall.



Yes, because parents:

Alberta Education Minister David Eggen says Jason Kenney's position that parents should be notified if their children join a gay-straight alliance is an "extremist" view.

"Jason Kenney has shown, once you scratch the paint off a little bit, you find the extremist that he actually is," he said.

Kenney, the newly elected Alberta Progressive Conservative leader, made the comments during an editorial board meeting with Postmedia in Calgary on Tuesday.

"I do, however, think that parents have a right to know what's going on with their kids in the schools unless the parents are abusive," Kenney said.

"I don't think it's right to keep secrets from parents about challenges their kids are going through."

Question: why is speaking to parents "extremist"? Is informing them of the goings-on at school an act to difficult to stomach? Wouldn't it be better for students to have their parents - people who understand them - openly discuss such matters?



Now, everybody is a Nazi:

This story originally and incorrectly reported that the gun appeared to be 9mm semi-automatic Walther P-38, the same handgun used by the German Army in World War II, based on confirmation from two gun experts. But the owner of the handgun contacted The Hill Times and identified the gun as a 1972 Walther P1. The story has been updated and corrected. The Hill Times apologizes for this error. 

Oops.

This just makes Miss Leitch a more fascinating candidate.



By the way, the former snowboard instructor's father supported both the Nazis and the communists. His foreign affairs minister hid the fact that her grandfather supported the Nazis.

So, is firing a mistaken gun worse than supporting dictatorial regimes?



Speaking of the snowboard instructor:

Justin Trudeau's news conference at a Winnipeg daycare was interrupted by a protester who called the prime minister a scumbag.

Staff from the Prime Minister's Office say the man gained entry to the event claiming to be a member of the "world alternative media."

He carried a camcorder as he heckled Trudeau about the carbon tax while the prime minister answered other questions. 

He also railed against what he called Trudeau's "globalist counterparts."

Security eventually led the man out of the room without incident.

Trudeau was in Winnipeg to tout child-care investments his government announced in last week's budget.

"Shame on you and your globalist counterparts," the man said as security kept a close eye on him. "You're scumbags. You are an absolute scumbag."

Thirty-nine percent of voters thought this billowy-headed moron would fit the bill.

They can own him.



(Paws up)