Panglossian Notes

Stockwell's favorite vacation destination?

Some of this whacky christian stuff, that Chris Hedges writes about, is too funny for words.

Two life-size figures of children with long black hair and in buckskin clothes [hey long black hair and bucket skin [deer skin?] these must be aboriginal kids. Why not blonde kids wearing dinosaur hide] play in the stream a few feet from two towering Tyrannosaurus Rex models that can move and roar. The museum, which cost $25 million to build and has a sea of black asphalt parking lots for school buses, has a scale model of Noah's ark that shows how Noah solved the problem of fitting dinosaurs into the three levels of the vessel--he loaded only baby dinosaurs. And on the wooden model, infant dinosaurs cavort with horses, giraffes, hippopotamuses, penguins and bears. There is an elaborate display of the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve, naked but strategically positioned so as not to display breasts or genitals, swim in a river as giant dinosaurs and lizards roam the banks.

Chris Hedges
March 28, 2007

They, the christian museum - amusement park? - owners are serious though. They must be, particularly with a price tag of US $25 million, to set up this type of thing.

I suspect it would have a strong appeal to someone like Stockwell Day who, I recall, was laughed at openly, yes openly by most of the country and the MSM, during the 2000 Canadian federal election campaign. Day learned to keep his mouth shut about his screwball "The Flintstones" view of pre-historical times but you can see it in the bugger's crazed eyes. He still believes prehistoric man was roaming around with those big big creatures and I don't mean woolly mammoths.

Technorati Tags: wingnuttery

TheStar.com - Editorial: McGuinty's sharia call

TheStar.com - Editorial: McGuinty's sharia call:

Good for McGuinty.

As could be expected the groups with existing dispute resolution arrangements in Ontario are voicing concerns that the Premier's decision over the weekend will legislate all of them out of existence.

So what's the problem?

Both Catholic and Jewish communities currently have tribunals that people in those religions can use to resolve disputes. Divorce, family custody issues, etc. do have a cultural element that shouldn't be forgotten.

An understanding of these quite significant influences need to be considered relevant within the existing and now pending and solely secular dispute resolution framework. Saying that these old arrangements provided a link to provincial law and thus a link to cultural distinctions which, after all, do effect how we see the world maybe true.

But people could still go to whomever they want in settling a dispute under the new arrangements - they don't have to use the courts or a legal mediator. If the parties accept the outcome of their freely chosen mediator isn't that binding arrangement - a contract in fact.

I must be missing something structural here that exists under these old arrangements and that the new legislation, as described by the Premier, may change, because I can't see how what the Premier has suggested will change what people may want and actually do.

I think there will be more free choice under the Premier's suggestion but with a little more process tacked on for those that want to legally formalize the result of their private mediation. For those that don't want the extra process there is still security in knowing that even what maybe considered informal arrangements are contracts and can ultimately be adjudicated, if need be, by the courts.

Some also seem to be upset by what they term a unilateral decision by the Premier. This I think is nonsense. Nothing requires him, except political expediency, to consult with others about any of his legislative suggestions.

The Legislature still has to review and pass any new law and I think there have been various town-hall meeting - mainly focused on the adoption of the former attorney generals recommendations - so nice try but I'm glad the guy, unlike a lot of other federal and provincial types, actually did lead and made a decision.

I hope he sticks to it. Now don't we all get to react phone MLA etc. and there always is another election just down the road.