If Judah’s letter in the Gateway didn’t expose the intolerance of non-theistic beliefs at the University of Alberta, perhaps this will:
This is not a joke, this is a serious hate crime.
I have contacted Campus Security and have sent a press release to the local media outlets.
Continue reading UofA shows intolerance and hate
Another letter in the Journal, this time though, they cropped it down a bit:
Re: “Voters not buying what leaders are selling; Poll; Widespread dissatisfaction makes another minority government more likely: Ipsos Reid,” The Journal, Sept. 18.
The reporter should check his facts when he says the Conservatives approval rating is “64 per cent in Harper’s home province of Alberta.” Stephen Harper was born and raised in Toronto.
Ian Bushfield, Edmonton
NDP Leader Jack Layton rolled into town today.
Y’argh!
Today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
As a special tribute, I want to make ye all aware of the Computer Engineers of the University of Alberta. They be the rowdiest crew of plunderers since the Last Saskatchewan Pirate (see the video).
Doubt my words about the mighty CompEs? Just watch the video below (2 parts):
As a final word, any buccaneers that be reading this in the area of Edmonton should do well to drop by Dewey’s on campus after 15h00 and visit the Pastafarians of the UofA Atheists and Agnostics.
Until next year, keep plundering the booty!
My article in the Gateway on Tuesday has stirred some response. Seeing as the letters are not available online, I’ll reproduce them here (for those of you out of town).
A couple quick notes first, neither letter addresses my arguments, both are written by chemical engineers (you can extrapolate and assume from here most UofA engineers are theocratic neocons) and I think there needs to be a contest for whoever can find the most logical fallacies in the second letter (read it more than once, it’s got fractal wrongness – thanks to Alan for the phrase).
Continue reading The critics respond
Lethbridge blogger Dr. Jim is back after an unexpected hiatus from SHUFFL, which was taken offline at wordpress.com recently. His new blog “Dr. Jim’s Thinking Shop and Tea Room” is up and running now.
It looks like he’s up to the same old tricks, but I would expect he may venture beyond old SHUFFL territory (much as I try to not limit myself to atheism, but also dabble in physics, politics, etc.):
this is my new blog and I would like to apologize to all the fans of my previous blog, SHUFFL, for the rude eradication thereof. Whoops. What the heck was I thinking? Anyway, I’m hoping to have a bit more fun here in a venue that will be a little less focused than SHUFFL. This means that rather than just “atheistical” or secularesque issues, I can talk about other stuff, too.
It’s good to see him back online. Update your feeds and give him some readers.
This past election in Alberta featured record low voter turnout (40%), and now the chief electoral officer has released a report on what the government needs to do to restore democracy in this province.
But first on of the problems:
Lorne Gibson’s report counted 257,176 people who showed up on election day and discovered they were not registered — 27 per cent of all March 3 voters.
Basically, the government claims it didn’t have the time or money to hire enumerators in this province to actually figure out who lived here so that they could have voter lists on election day.
Another issue was that the returning officers were appointed by the Tories. This potentially led to polls being strategically chosen to make it difficult to vote for certain populations.
Among the 182 recommendations are non-partisan returning officers (hired by Elections Alberta) and fixed elections dates.
Unfortunately the government is dragging its draconian heels again:
“We’ll be making a review of the full 182 recommendations and responding in due time,” said Justice Minister Alison Redford.
“We don’t want to respond individually until we’ve had a chance to look at the full report and to ensure that before we make any changes that we have ensured that people’s fundamental rights to democracy are protected.”
She said the government has already begun reviewing some recommendations — such as allowing Elections Alberta to hire returning officers who would not be appointed directly by the government — because Gibson outlined them earlier in a 2006 report.
“It was more a question of timing and the legislative schedule as to why we didn’t respond,” Redford said.
“I’m not saying that we will be responding fully, but we will be reviewing them all.”
Don Martin is a contemptible writer of the Conservative mouthpiece the Calgary Herald (which is to give it credit over the Calgary sun which isn’t so nice). Remember, the Herald is the paper that used Easter to doubly bash atheism. So seeing him in the news (not the opinion) of the Journal today was a sad disappointment (after the Journal moved up by bashing private school fundings).
Today Don is whining that politicians are ignoring this province.
Well boo-fucking-hoo Don. Why should Harper come here if you (and 60% of this province) has pledged allegiance to the Tories? It’s a waste of their time. If you really want to see some politicians in town, and to have a voice, you have to not sound like a whiny prima donna. By already giving the green light to the Tories you have given them a blank cheque that says everything their doing is a-okay.
Here’s the original for your displeasure:
Continue reading Then the Journal publishes crap
I’m in print!
Today’s issue of the Gateway features my op-ed on achieving a Secular Convocation at the UofA.
Here’s an excerpt (I can’t republish the whole thing for 14 days):
Upon reaching the gruelling end of a long and tiresome journey, students embark across a stage for the convocation. Yet, despite the movement toward multicultural inclusiveness and tolerance, this is one stage that keeps the flame of bigotry burning bright.
Read the rest online (or grab a paper copy).
There’s a nice article in the Journal today praising the use of the internet as key to this election. They admit however that it’s often hard for local politicians to cover the web, but Strathcona candidate Linda Duncan gets a gold star for her (and her team’s) work.
One of the better local sites belongs to Edmonton-Strathcona NDP candidate Linda Duncan. Her site even provides a contact for “citizen media,” such as bloggers. Underneath, it has html code for people who want to include Linda Duncan banners on their sites.
Then local bloggers Idealistic Pragmatist, The Enlightened Savage, and Daveberta get nods too:
Jennifer Dailey-O’Cain, a University of Alberta professor who blogs as Idealistic Pragmatist, runs the site, which she calls “her baby.” She said it’s a relatively simple way to reach out to potential voters.
“I realized a long time ago that this was a way we could get people locally involved in the campaign,” Dailey-O’Cain said. “I think it really works — and it doesn’t take a lot of time and money.”
But while local candidates aren’t providing much web fodder, bloggers are picking up some of the slack. Dave Cournoyer, a liberal who blogs at Daveberta.ca, publishes a frequently updated list of nominated candidates in Alberta. The Enlightened Savage blog has an ambitious plan to write analysis of a different Alberta riding nearly every day until the election.
