Demonizing Decent People

Stephen Harper’s suggestion Thursday that the Liberals have a secret plan to legalize polygamy wasn’t the worst thing he could have said. He could have said that legalizing same sex marriage was part of the Liberal plan to go down the road to condoning child pornography.

Harper is smarter than that. Some of his supporters haven’t been. Still, Harper’s remarks were dumb, dishonest and an attempt to demonize decent people in an attempt to win votes. He knows there is no connection between polygamists and homosexuals, or at least he should. Nobody enters his or her teenage years and decides “hey, I’m a polygamist”. I haven’t seen any polygamy pride flags around town.

And however much Harper tries to say that he has nothing against homosexuals, he is still showing that the people he panders to views homosexuals as inherently inferior and not worthy of the full protection and privilege of the law. Otherwise, why make the connection between homosexual and polygamy in the first place unless (a) you viewed polygamists as a threat to society and (b) you viewed homosexuals as not very different. Harper’s statements clearly make a group of largely mythical polygamists the bogeyman, and homosexuals as connected to that bogeyman.

It may be a bit of bluster, and a case of closing the gate after the horses are bolted, but Paul Martin showed some signs of growing a backbone over this issue. He may, if his government is defeated on the same sex vote, go to the polls over the issue.

Libertarians, looking to the Conservative Party to articulate a clear government-free vision of Canada — a vision which has not been given a fair hearing in this country — are already disappointed that the Conservatives are heading down this road. Maybe the Conservatives being sucked there by Paul Martin’s lacklustre leadership, but Harper is still allowing himself to be hung on an issue and all its baggage that damaged his party’s credibility in the last election.

I didn’t vote for the Liberals in that election. I think the current brand of the party is leaderless, tired and overdue for replacement. But if the next election is fought on a defence of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, even if Martin barely represents a decent defender of that document, I’d have no choice. I’d vote Liberal. And I think a lot of people would end up joining me.


Oh, by the way, Spongebob Squarepants is now the standard bearer of homosexuality, according to Dr. Dobson. Jordan Cooper (whose blog you all should read) laments.


Farewell Trenchcoat

On Thursday, I took delivery of 58 bound copies of the :Trenchcoat Farewell Project:. The project looks really good, with burgundy library binding, gold stamping, and smooth edges. Lehmann Bookbinders really did a wonder.

Now comes the task of shipping copies out. I’ve printed up copies of the TFP CD-ROM and one will be included with each book. I’m making a run into Toronto today to hand deliver eight copies of the magazine (saving me postage), and next week will be filled with runs to the post office.

I don’t think the fact has quite hit me yet: it’s done. It’s over. I felt more strongly when I penned the final acknowledgement. Trenchcoat has been a big part of my life these past sixteen years. It introduced me to my best friends and my wife. It also allowed me to practise my craft as a writer before a small and supportive audience that was beyond my circle of friends and family.

It’s also interesting to recall how the technology changed over the past sixteen years. In 1991, we were barely above using typewriters. I used a dot matrix printer with monospaced font. By 1996, we were using laser printers. In all cases, artwork was pasted into place and a master copy produced. Today, I submitted the whole project as an electronic .pdf file.

I also find it interesting that the release comes just two months before the debut of the new Doctor Who. Back in 1996, the delayed Ninth Aspect arrived on the same month as the debut of the Paul McGann telemovie on Fox. Hopefully, if the new series stops, I won’t have to restart it by releasing another issue…

We have a couple of unclaimed copies left over. They’ll be sold for $50 each on a first come, first served basis. If you’re interested, click on over to the Trenchcoat home page. After that point, the magazine will still be available as a CD-ROM. Details of that are also available on the website

Farewell Project

A copy of the Farewell Project, with gold stamping on the spine.

Open Book

An open book.

Thickness

The thickness of the project.

bound projects

Some of the bound projects, stacked in our dining room.

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