The Light! IT BUUURNNNS!!

Via Pam at Pandagon, another reason I stand on guard for frikkin' thee:

The Reverend Tristan Emmanuel says that for evangelical Christians, "there is a form of persecution taking place in Canada." Emmanuel says the legalization of same-sex marriage, and hate crimes laws that criminalize discrimination against homosexuals, have fueled an intolerance against Bible-believing Christians.

The executive director of the Ontario-based Equipping Christians for the Public-Square Centre warns that that's what American evangelicals could face in the years ahead. Emmanuel is urging his fellow believers to help vote Canada's Liberal government out of office in next months' national election. But he says many Canadian Christians tell him they are ready to give up and move to the United States.

I have distinct issues with some of Canada's hate-crime laws, specifically more with the language elements (once you're born in a country with the First Amendment, it's pretty much burned into your DNA. Even when the country itself occassionally seems to have abandoned it ...), but they're in no way so restrictive that you can't make your political point ... scratch that, let me put it another way: If you can't make your political point without violating Canada's hate crime laws, then frankly, there's a reason.

But as I've said before, I'll say again: feeling hard done by is the great addictive drug of humanity. What's even more offensive here is they way that this clown uses "Canadian Christians" and "Evangelical Christians" and "Evangelical Christians who are militantly against gay marriage" as if they're interchangeable. It's a bit of framing shorthand the media falls for whole-heartedly and lazily, a way of conflating your minority view with a statistically larger population.

This is connected to a series of essays about Flightplan and Munich, but I'll pace myself. More later this week.

But in the meantime, apparently we'll be able to buy some cheap real estate from motivated sellers to expand the Compound. Excellent! The plans for the Hydroponics Wing can be expanded!

Oh, and re: Pandagon's comments. First Discovered Law of 2006: If ten years after the fall of the Soviet Union you're still using "socialist" or "commie" as perjoratives, no one else has to take you seriously.