Ontario's Political Scene & Separation Of Church & State

With a $15 billion deficit, Ontario's financial state is in a mess, and the Ontario Liberal government is squarely to blame as they have been in power for the past 9 years. The biggest problem is the growth in the public sector. Unions and steady raises has created a ridiculous situation where 70,000 Ontario public sector employees make over $100,000 a year, and even more unfathomable is the fact that on average a public sector employee makes 27% more money than a private sector worker doing the same job.

Teachers, for example, are overpaid, and over compensated with oodles of sick days and a great pension plan. Yeah, teachers are important, but I strongly believe that public sector workers should only get paid what they could make on a good day in the private sector.

This situation has all to do with economic cycles. In bad cycles, private sector employees don't see steady wage increases, but the Ontario government kept giving and giving and giving no matter what was happening in the real world.

The Liberal Party's conceitedness and corruptness has also given the Ontario taxpayer fits, as we have to pay for their mistakes like ORNGE and Ehealth. As a minority government right now, they are trying to push through a budget that was the product of zero public consultation.

There were recommendations to get out the hole made in the Drummond Report which came out a couple of months ago, but the Liberals have cherry picked it to death. Bottom line, the day after the budget was outlined, Ontario's credit rating tanked.

One of the recommendations was to eliminate full day kindergarten, a move which would save the province $1.5 billion over the next few years. But noooo. The Dalton McGuinty run Liberals would not go there.

The absurdity of stating that this budget was full of tough decisions while keeping full day kindergarten is a reason why this government has to go. The argument for full day kindergarten is that kids who participate in it are better integrated in grade 1, 2, and even 3. So what? If you put a kid in school as a 3 year old, they would be even better prepared for grade 1, etc. It doesn't mean that a province in debt should pay for the luxury.

Everyone I know, including my nephews and nieces, are all products of half day kindergarten. They all function very well in society. All I can remember from half day kindergarten was tasting paste and getting a mat to have a daily nap on. It is nothing but glorified day care.

The Liberal Party has a history of overspending and making irresponsible dirty deals, so why are they in power?

Main reason is that they are actually better for the economy than the NDP would be, as that party is completely in bed with the Unions and their only way to straighten out Ontario's finances would be to overtax the rich and private sector businesses. Way too much socialism, even for Canada. And their way of doing things would only make the economy worse.

That leaves the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. They are all for privatizing much of the public sector, thus causing a smaller government. But their biggest problem is that they can't seem to get out of their own way when it comes to pandering to the religious base in Ontario. This was completely evident when then PC leader John Tory announced he would fund religious schools if elected. He drove off most independents (who are socially liberal, yet pro business like myself). I had no choice but to vote Liberal for the first time in my life that year.

So now, with Liberals at an all time low in popularity, the issue of anti-bullying has come up in Ontario. Spurred on by the media reports of gay kids committing suicide, the Liberal government wants to allow anti-homophobic groups to be created in any school and if desired by the students in it, can also use the word gay in their group title. Sounds like a no brainer. The NDP support it too. But the Conservatives are making it an issue. What is it going to get them to stay away from social issues if their input is based on a bigoted bible? They need to shut up. They aren't going to lose the conservative vote, just as Romney will not lose the conservative vote in the USA no matter how much he respects separation of church and state.

But Ontario is still not all separation of church and state. Due to a deal made when Ontario was initially made a province, Catholic schools get to be publicly funded. It is now 2012, and it would definitely make financial sense to end this relationship, but no leader has the guts to do it.

The Catholic school board though is whining about the anti-bullying law. McGuinty has got one thing right when he told the Catholic board to basically go to hell: “I’m accountable to all faiths, I’m accountable to people of no faith. I’m accountable to all parents.”

And yes, if they don't comply, it is time to pull the plug on their funding. Though the government is not saying there is a threat of any kind going on. I think the Catholics know they could put their status in jeopardy so it is all bark for them. The result will be kind of funny though: A gay alliance group in a Catholic school...I can't wait.

The other thing that irks me about Ontario is that The Lord's Prayer still starts off the Ontario Legislature each morning. WTF is that? It isn't right, but it just shows that we are still a province of wimps when it comes to full separation of church and state.

Obama's Gay Marriage Stance May Cost Him, And That Is Pathetic

I find it pathetic, that by admitting that he personally supports gay marriage, Barack Obama may have actually cost himself the next election.

Well I guess he could have admitted worse, that he was agnostic or an atheist.  He has made it tough on the people who insist he is a Muslim though.

It is a disgusting mindset to worry oneself to death about a couple of guys or a couple of women getting married.

First off, gays have the right to be as miserable as married straight guys like me.  Kidding aside, gays deserve every legal right as a human being as everyone else.  It is only common sense.

Secondly, no matter how much certain people need to believe it, homosexuality is not a choice 95%+ of the time.  Scientific research has put the choice thingy to rest.  Homosexuality is instilled in certain fetuses due to a combination of genes and womb environmental factors. 

And then there is the bible, which condones polygamy and slavery, but has a bad couple of words about guys lying next to each other.  It is completely hypocritical of the apologists who dismiss slavery and polygamy as being a sign of the times, but refuse to dismiss that God might have just only hated gays when the fictional Zombie Jesus and fictional Moses were gallivanting around.

Finally, there is the whine about traditional marriage.  I did some research, and the best I can tell is that marriage was invented by the ancient Egyptians as a way to keep wealth within the family, so brothers married sisters, and fathers married daughters, etc. 

Marriage in the bible then "evolved" when men bought women from families in order to experience wedding bliss. 

So that is traditional marriage.  Of course, the Mormon idea of traditional marriage is having more than one wife.  Lets see Romney have the guts to be true to his religion and publicly endorse polygamy.

Actually, those who are intolerant of gays really should endorse gay marriage.  I had a math teacher back in high school back around 1979, Mr. Minty.  He did a 10 minute "monologue" during home room time prior to class that almost never had to do with math.  He definitely taught me to think out of the box.

His theory regarding homosexuality was that the more it was not publicly accepted, the more likely the next generations would have more gays in the population as homosexuals would be prone to marrying the opposite sex and having kids.   Of course, his theory was based on the gay gene, which I believe has quite a lot of scientific support going for it.

The opposite would be true too.  Take the ancient Greek society for instance.  When homosexuality is accepted, gays tend to stay out of the future gene pool.

So come on Religious Right.  Think of the future.  Support gay marriage.

Happy Fairy Tales For Adults Day

Today is the start of both Easter and Passover, two of the biggest hoaxes bought into by the majority of the masses. There is no contemporary evidence that Jesus ever existed. The first historical mention of him was generations after he supposedly lived. As for the Exodus. There is no evidence that Jews even existed prior to 550 BC. Great back story though, and somewhat believable for the people at the time who wanted to know the purpose of their religion. People were constantly thrown out of communities and countries, and that continues today. Invasions and war often lead to refugees, and many micro Exoduses. Making it of epic proportions made the story of the Exodus more appealing to those who wanted to believe. But really, is it any different than the back story created by the Scientologists or Mormons (well, at least Joseph Smith existed, but even his contemporaries couldn't prove the stuff he was saying). I still don't get why the Easter Bunny is associated with the story of Jesus. Perhaps it relates to a lost Gospel. The Gospel of the Easter Bunny. After Jesus' lifeless body was taken down from the cross, he was placed in a giant egg in a cave. A large rabbit came by and sat on the egg. Three days later Jesus hatched. I wonder if Christians today would believe that if say Mark wrote about it.

The Old And New Testament: What Really Didn't Happen

Good to see that The Bible Unearthed and The God Who Wasn't There are both available in their entirety on Youtube again.

For over 40 years, I assumed there was a historical Jesus and Moses. I'm sure a lot of younger atheists assume the same thing. It took Mel Gibson's Passion to put me on a bit of a detective mission.

It started innocently enough, the fact he portrayed Jesus as a dude with blond wavy hair got me wondering what Jesus really looked like. I started doing Google searches, and I found there is not one shred of contemporary evidence that Jesus ever existed at all.

I then looked into a historical Moses and evidence for the Exodus. Nothing...nada. Both Judaism and Christianity are based on super stars who most likely never existed. Back stories were invented for both religions. I guess they sounded reasonable to oppressed individuals in search of a reason to be here and a reason why things were so bad for them on earth.

Grab some popcorn and start watching:

Rick Santorum Wants To Change All U.S. Birth Certificates

Breaking News from either Weasel Zippers or American Thinker:

If he wins the 2012 Presidential election, Rick Santorum has vowed to have all U.S. Birth Certificates (including Obama's questionable birth certificate) show a birth date 9 months earlier than what is previously on the certificate.

"Life begins at inception, it is nothing but a complete fraud to state that one's birth date is the day the cord is cut," Santorum told a gaggle of white Baptist men in Ohio today.

Under Santorum's proposal, the child's mother must apply for a birth certificate and social security number no later than the second missed period, even though the sex of the fetus can't be determined until the 4th or 5th month.

"This may limit the names of children to Pat, Casey, Leslie and Jordan, but that is a small price to pay in order to finally make abortions worthy of a death sentence," an uncontrollably blinking Santorum stated.

Santorum also explained that there is another plus to this when it comes to adding 9 months to all American's ages is that it will increase the life expectancy of all Americans. The USA will move up to around 28th amongst all world countries. This will close the gap between the USA and other countries with successful Universal Heath Care Systems. "This should help kill Obamacare once and for all," a confident Santorum said.

In related news, Santorum also wants Congress to pass the Marriage Is For Procreative Sex Only Law. If passed, it will make it impossible for gays to get married. It also makes it impossible for infertile individuals to marry, as well as post menopausal women. "Again, this is a small price to pay to prevent sick sinning homosexuals from walking down the aisle together," a now frothing Santorum stated, "Jack and Jill went up the hill, not Jack and Peter."

Editor's Note: And to think, it isn't even April 1 yet.