And The Mexican Firing Squad Moves Into Formation...

I had thought that the Conservatives had almost dodged the Social Issues bullet in their upcoming policy convention.

However, howls of protest from within the party seem to have changed all that - according to this article in the National Post.

Quoting from the last part of the article:

"The reaction on the social-conservative side of things was one of absolute anger. There was complete rage that in a party claiming to be grassroots and democratic, they were doing an end-run around social conservatives," said Craig Chandler, CEO of Concerned Christians Canada, a Calgary-based group focused now on opposition to same-sex marriage legislation.

Remember, Craig Chandler was the dark horse candidate that stepped aside during the introductory speeches at the leadership convention that selected Stephen Harper. As I recall, that particular speech was one of the more hate-filled pieces of vitriol I've ever heard.

If the "social-conservative" side of this party is headed up by goons like Craig Chandler, I think we can be assured of a rather amusing convention next week. (Not rational, amusing)

I imagine that the squawking, screaming and screeching from the bunch of harpies that have traditionally called themselves "social conservatives" (neanderthal throwbacks, IMO) in the previous incarnations of what is now called the Conservative party embody all of the worst attributes of humanity - narrow mindedness, bigotry, inflexibility and a bad attitude to go with it.

From the Wikipedia article on Harpies:

They were agents of punishment who abducted people and tortured them on their way to Tartarus. They were vicious, cruel and violent. They lived on Strophades. They were usually seen as the personifications of the destructive nature of wind.

Not unlike the most vocal of social conservatives - loud, mean, nasty and windy indeed...

I fully expect we'll get to see - once again - the ugly underbelly of misconception, intolerance and bigotry that has infested the Reform and Alliance incarnations of the Conservatives. Whether more moderate views will prevail is moot - the screaming alone should be enough to turn off Quebec voters, and will alienate urban Ontario voters pretty quickly as well.

Of course, we will see lots of publicity about the same-gender marriage (and a huge amount of holier-than-thou religious arguments put forth at that time) Which reminds me - I saw a bumper sticker the other day I rather liked - it read "Straight, but not Narrow".