Lying cops, Mark Pugash, and the Star: Where we juxtapose, once again

Three links to start off with: one from the CBC and two from the Star. Excerpts follow.

New homicide chief on fighting 'code of silence'

Staff Insp. Greg McLane told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning that a lack of information can frustrate investigators, especially when it is known that witnesses were present when a crime took place.

Just like the witnesses who were there when Dorian Barton's arm was broken, or when Sean Salvati was beaten and then paraded around naked, or when Adam Nobody was beaten and kicked in the face. Have we mentioned that most of those witnesses were cops? And that it took the Star to out Glenn Weddell?

So Bob Rae's still an unctuous, spineless, weaselly hypocrite? Carry on then

We can't pretend to be surprised at the Harper Regime's appeal to the socon mouth breathers. That's part of their playbook, and we've known that all along.

But when you read that Bob's not going to whip the vote on Wankworth's misogynist merry-go-round (h/t @JeninCanada), the first thing that comes to mind, as the Dawgster points out, is his failure on a similar matter almost 20 years ago.

A new progressive aggregator? Woohoo!

Thanks to our good friends Fern Hill, the Dawg, and Dave at TGP, we note this morning the establishment of a new, er, establishment for our progressive friends.

Henceforth, I propose that we refer to the inhabitants of the Rump Aggregator formerly aggregating us only as the Regressive Bloggers. (Hey, "Regressive Rump." Has a kinda ring to it, doncha think?)

And the PB exits continue ... @DrDawg and @gallopingbeaver

The good folk over at DJ and Regina Mom we know about already.

Today, we note the departure of the Dawg and the collective over at TGB.

Not sure whether this is part of a larger pattern, but the need to reclaim the term "progressive" still stands. If you want to call yourself that, you don't put the rights of your fellow citizens on the debating table. You just don't.

And just so the PB admins can't misrepresent this, it's hard to square that with their suggestion that anyone was calling for banning. But apparently even a reiteration of that simple principle was asking too much.

Not only that, there's the arrogance and condescension of their response, for which Dr. Dawg has called them out (Thanks Dawg. Thought I was the only one for a minute there):

The response of Tribe and his moderators to legitimate concerns has been shocking, and I’m not easily shocked these days. This is 2012, and they still don’t get it. Their scorn, smugness and arrogance, with which they appear to be plentifully endowed, have been directed at the pro-rights crowd, not at those who want to debate whether those rights should even exist. The caricatures they’ve been pushing are drearily familiar to anyone following the feminist conversations over the past two or three decades. The goodly folks at DAMMIT JANET! who reacted to their rights being put up for debate have been stereotyped and lampooned. Fern Hill is an “idiot,” avers a prominent Liberal. Those concerned about a progressive aggregator offering safe harbour to those who want to debate human rights for women are, in Tribe’s words, “screaming banschees” [sic].

Not only that, but there's a disturbing willingness to smear and misrepresent as well -- if not on their parts, then on the part of one of their supporters ...

As our comrades note, it's not as if we need this particular aggregator in order to get traffic. But we can't let the term "progressive" be hijacked. Words matter, and so do their meanings. We've got work to do.

Related posts:

• And speaking of 'Progressive Bloggers' who Just Don't Get It, have you good people met Paladiea?
• Hey, 'Progressive Bloggers' and Scott Tribe: Are you giant wankers, or just trying to look like it?
• Hello, "Progressive Bloggers?" Open asses. Remove heads.
• On reproductive freedom, there is nothing to fucking 'debate'

And speaking of 'Progressive Bloggers' who Just Don't Get It, have you good people met Paladiea?

Wow. Just ... wow.

"Paladiea" would like you all to know that he or she is very pro-choice, and dislikes anti-abortionists with a vengeance. He / she makes it clear in the very first paragraph of his / her post, which is not-at-all-patronizingly titled Mountains and Molehills - Abortion Redux.

The rest of the post continues in a slightly less nauseating can't-we-all-just-get-along tone, but here's the money shot:

... when dealing with misogyny, we should be careful to separate the malicious (“Nice Guys” PUAs MRAs etc.) from the ignorant and well meaning (most of society). The solution to this is not to scream and wail and have the Prog Blogs moderate to the point of dictatorship, it is to bring facts and reason to the argument to prove your point.

Got that, ladies? Stop your screaming and wailing, and bring facts and reason to the argument to prove your point. That point being, apparently, that women should have the right to control their own bodies. I guess in Paladiea's view, that's still in issue, so it needs to be established all over again.

I'm just shaking my head here.

Related posts:

• Hey, 'Progressive Bloggers' and Scott Tribe: Are you giant wankers, or just trying to look like it?
• Hello, "Progressive Bloggers?" Open asses. Remove heads.
• On reproductive freedom, there is nothing to fucking 'debate'

Hey, 'Progressive Bloggers' and Scott Tribe: Are you giant wankers, or just trying to look like it?

From a comment over at DJ:

I've requested the regina mom be removed from so-called ProgBlogs because "I will not be associated with an organization of any sort that believes women's fundamental right to freedom of the person is up for debate." The response? Wait for it! "The organization believes nothing of the sort.. it isnt official Prog Blog policy.. it IS official Prog Blog policy to allow freedom of beliefs and expression on touchy topics like this. The reaction to this is way overblown and over the top. Your request will be honoured when I have the time to do so." So, now our full emancipation as human beings is a "touchy topic!" Fuck that bullshit, I say!

Let's just see how fast they find the time now.

Related posts:

• Hello, "Progressive Bloggers?" Open asses. Remove heads.
• On reproductive freedom, there is nothing to fucking 'debate'
• U.S. doctor urges colleagues not to perform transvaginal ultrasounds

Hello, "Progressive Bloggers?" Open asses. Remove heads.

So apparently the administrators at the so-called "Progressive Bloggers" aggregator are prepared to continue indulging members who think it's worthwhile to have a "debate" about Stephen Woodworth's crusade for "the rights of the unborn."

Well, fuck that, and fuck them, sez I. While we're at it, maybe we can have a "debate" about whether black people should have the same rights as white people?

Have you noticed what's going on to the south, ProgBlog mods? Have you been off the planet for the last couple of years? There's a wholesale war on women, in case you hadn't noticed. Republicans are working to roll back abortion rights and control women's sexuality in almost every state. And you want to crack open the door for that up here? We're supposed to keep the Sewer of Stupid from oozing over the border, not let it roll over us.

News flash, folks: you don't get to entertain a fucking "debate" over whether women control their own bodies and still call yourselves progressive. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, things aren't black and white, there's room for nuance and shades of meaning, and you can't reduce everything to ideological litmus tests ...

No. This time, you can. Either you believe in reproductive freedom and personal autonomy for everyone or you don't. There's no fucking middle ground on this.

So with all due respect to the mods at Progressive Bloggers:

Now it may be, as some commenter suggested over at the National Putz, that this is just

the Harpublicans chumming social conservative waters with a disposable Theo-con MP destined to join Stockwell Day counting angels dancing on the head of a pin

but really, that's neither here nor there. They want to have their little wanker debates and socon circle jerks, they can get a room somewhere. In progressive company, that question was settled a long fucking time ago.

Which means that there's a dirty but unavoidable task in front of us. Words and labels are vital, and it's obvious that we need to be vigilant about their meanings so that they, and the conversation, aren't co-opted and colonized. We cannot allow people who think this way to strip words of their meanings and repurpose them. The admins at the so-called "Progressive Bloggers" need to be put on notice.

Related posts:

• On reproductive freedom, there is nothing to fucking 'debate'
• U.S. doctor urges colleagues not to perform transvaginal ultrasounds
• One Town's War on Gay Teens | #uspoli #lgbt

On reproductive freedom, there is nothing to fucking 'debate'

The folks at Dammit Janet, the Dawgmeister and Dave over at TGB have already pointed it out, so I'm not going to go through it again. (You can stop the applause, smart-asses.)

I am not going to "debate" about the notion of fetal rights or when life begins or whether or not women have the right to control their own bodies. That's done. Anything that purports to "reopen" such a question needs to be seen for exactly what it is: a transparent attempt to reassert patriarchal control over women's sexuality and reproductive autonomy.

Anyone who wants to have that "conversation" can go fuck themselves. The idea that it could even be entertained in a forum billing itself as "progressive" just strips the word of its meaning.