You tell 'er, Presto!

Here at the Tortoise, we make no secret of our disdain for Anna Maria Tremonti.

There was a breath of fresh air on The Current back on January 25, 2006 (part two; sorry, little slow finishing up this post) when the elder statesman of the nouveau populist-conservative mishmash that's now in charge of the Dominion was interviewed.

That's right - Presto Magic ... Preston Manning.

Highlight: After AMT tried to point out some (glaring to her mind) inconstencies in the idea of "The West Wants In", PM refers to the segment lead-in and shoots back:

Your whole introductory statement of what Reform represented or what the Conservatives represented, Anna Maria, I think is completely out of whack. I don't know what researcher produced that.

He did it in his completely winsome Preston Manning way... but one of my favourite CBC moments in a long time.

The whole thing is worth listening to. The quote above is just after the 4-minute mark.

If they had done better research, one great question that could have asked was this: in your political memoirs, Think Big, you seem to go out of your way to colour Stephen Harper as a guy who would take his ball and go home when he didn't like the way the game was going. I think you said he left you hanging on three separate occassions. Has he changed, or was this just the right game for him?

I think I know the answer, but it'd be a great to give him a chance to say it.

To finish up, here's one to grow on (around 14 minute-mark):

I've been impatient that it takes so long to do things that I think are self-evidently necessary.
Preston Manning on "The Current" January 26, 2005

[Updated] Jerrub-Allah

Yesterday, my Ottawa Citizen had a picture of Muslims in front of the Danish Embassy in London protesting the Muhammad cartoons which are all the rage these days.

Protest away boys.

But, I wonder ... how many of you recognize the irony of protesting the turban-cum-bomb cartoons with signs which read "Slay Those Who Insult Islam" and "Butcher Those Who Mock Islam"? Let alone what what your brothers are doing at other embassies.

Do you think this might be the inevitable position you are left in when you embrace the radical form of a totalizing and subjugating world view?

You may not like her, but are you establishing Irshad Manji's thesis that when you go to the roots (i.e. go radical), you can't get away from hate and violence?

Did you know that when Jesus was mocked he said, "Father, forgive them"? And there were whips and nails involved -- not editorial cartoons.

When you go radical with Jesus, you can't get away from love and peace (or else, eh Bono?).

I'm not saying that followers of Jesus (including Muhammad, as he claims) don't get it wrong way too often.

However, if you want to make a statement about your faith, try this: Jerrub-Allah.

Huh?

In the book of Judges, Gideon got a very curious nickname: Jerrub-Baal. It means "let Baal contend". He got it after his father fought off a lynch-mob who wanted to kill him for ripping down an altar to the god Baal. Basically, dad said to them: if Baal really is god, let him contend with Gideon. Baal can stick up for himself if he's the real deal.

Boys, too much blood has already been shed by folks sticking up for God.

If there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet, then Jerrub-Allah.

Update: Today's Radio Netherland's Press Review says it another way:

One of the religion columnists of Trouw, a Protestant paper that features a daily section on religion and philosophy, writes today about the contrast between the Jewish and Islamic ban on images of God and Christianity, in which contemplation of the image of God is essential. "The portrayal of God is central: God is a man, Jesus, who is crucified amidst derision. And this is even presented as 'good news'." The columnist concludes, therefore, that "cartoons in which Jesus is made fun of, in fact, are preaching the Bible."

And sure enough, elsewhere in Trouw, we read of the 45th International Cartoon Festival in Knokke in neighbouring Belgium, where 885 cartoonists from 59 countries all over the world had to compete for the Golden Hat. The top prize went to an Israeli cartoonist of Russian descent who won with his cartoon of Jesus... yawning.

What next for Canada?

One of the lines that will be traced over the next couple of days goes something like this:

• Despite Gomery
• Despite a pathetic campaign
• Despite the Income Trust scandal
• Despite the fact that Conservatives are scary (oops, that was supposed to help)
  
• ... the Liberals didn't do so bad. Thus, the worst is over for them.

I'm not so sure I agree. And I don't think it's up to them.

The Liberals have lost the ability to control their own desitiny at this point.

Canada has decided to shack up with Harper and the Conservatives and not marry them. Whether they tie the knot or not (in the form of a majority the next time around) will be their performance in (and out of) the coming Parliament.

Their goal is to get more Canadians to say "no, you're not" when asked (at the end of one of the longer minority parliaments, I suspect), "See, we're not so scary, are we?"

Smarter people than I have ideas on how they can do that ... Kinsella being one tonght.

But that's their goal.

For now, SH and the Conservatives control their own destiny.

Time for the victory speech....

Election Result Sites

Heard a lot of talk during the (all but now complete) election about campaign websites being mostly "virtual lawn signs" rather than embracing the all the syndispheric, folksonomic, Web 2.0-ic sites they could be. Blah, blah, blah...

Anyway, after spending a night looking for the real election stories from the results given by just about every major outlet's site ... I gotta say it kinda blew.

CTV had probably the best layout in it's National Results Dashboard. Kevoka (ok, not a major outlet) had an interesting concept with the Election 2006 Mashup ... but I couldn't get the thing to work.

Let me list some things I was looking for... may serve the basis for my own thing next time around.

• incumbents losing / about to lose
• close races (by specified deltas)
• number of men/women broken down
• lots of deltas
• significant shifts in individual ridings
• races in ridings with no incumbents.
• comback attempts (eg. Svend, the Cretien Libs who will come out of hiding next time)
  

If we've got the data ... why not let it tell us what the stories are -- rather than waiting for the talking heads to tell us. For example, my riding's race was one of the closest (except for Tony Celement's) ... not mentioned nationally. Maybe I'm just a geek, but I'd have loved to know a few of those as the night went on and watch the numbers change.

Gretzky vs. Goodale?

Could you imagine it ... the best ever at the only sport that matters in the country taking on the finance minister?

Well, it's happening in Holland. And with good reason. Check out the Radio Netherlands bit (at bottom of page under heading "The Saviour") on Johan Cruijff going after the Dutch government's inexplicable practice of skimming 8% in tax off charitable donations.

And we think gas taxes and property assessments are something to bitch about....

Wayne, could you give us a hand?

Dr. Broom

For those concerned friends and relatives who know of my lacklustre year on the McGill football team's practice squad, I feel it necessary to reassure you:

I never had relations with that broom.

Me and Chuckie

Uh... this is a little weird. Apparently, quick off-the-cuff answers to 30 questions (most of which could take paragraphs to nuance enough to say 'I don't know') makes my theology in the mold of a well-known Charles. Not Wesley. Not Bridges. Not Hodge. FINNEY! Ha! Here's what their cut and paste results say...

You scored as Charles Finney. You're passionate about God and love to preach the Gospel. Your theology borders on pelagianism and it is said that if God were taken out of your theology, it would look exactly the same. Charles Finney 93% Martin Luther 60% John Calvin 53% Friedrich Schleiermacher 53% Anselm 47% Jonathan Edwards 47% Karl Barth 40% Augustine 40% Paul Tillich 7% J�rgen Moltmann 7% Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com

These changes ain't changing me
The cold-hearted boy I used to be
- The Killers

Or so I thought.

Glad somebody said it

Not a big fan of Christianity Today. But, it's nice to hear someone down there say what they did in a July editorial:

George W. Bush is not Lord. The Declaration of Independence is not an infallible guide to Christian faith and practice. Nor is the U.S. Constitution, nor the U.N. Universal Declaration on Human Rights. "Original intent" of America's founders is not the hermeneutical key that will guarantee national righteousness. The American flag is not the Cross. The Pledge of Allegiance is not the Creed. "God Bless America" is not the Doxology.

Sometimes one needs to state the obvious—especially at times when it's less and less obvious.

Unfortunately, the rest of the article offers the unappealing, facile formula that has made anything American evangelicalism touches a thing to be feared: worship God and get involved in politics.

Forgive me, but I'm looking for more these days.

A few years back, I heard John Manley (Jean Chrétien's jack-of-all-trades) respond to a question about the role of Christians in our culture. The paraphrased answer: to make a difference, you have to learn how to formulate your answers in a way that's accessible in a pluralistic culture.

I have a feeling that figuring that out is anything but facile. Wrestling with it will at least be more productive than "worship and politics."

In both cases, the obvious has been stated. And I'm glad someone said it.

The things people will try

Baby #3's arrival is immanent.

Was cruising for the settings for our rental TENS unit. [Too bad I didn't look up the wikipedia article when I went to pick it up... would have given me a nice smart-ass answer when the lady at the medical supply place asked what it was for. "Well, the boyfriend and I ..."]

Found this at the same time ... people willing to consider the use of pot during labour.

Of course, I won't be the one doing the pushing, etc. so maybe the female perspective on this is a little different.

My Fellow Alumnus

I cannot let the day pass without saying...

As an alumnus of the University of Western Ontario, I am ashamed and disappointed (although I can't say outraged or surprised) that today my alma matter awarded an honourary doctorate to Henry Morgentaler.