Flit

What's amusing is the crowds cheer at it

“Every barrel of oil that comes out of those sands in Canada is a barrel of oil that we don’t have to buy from a foreign source.” -- One of Republican presidential candidate Gov. Rick Perry's favourite applause lines in Iowa.

The roster of utter screwball incompetents that the Republicans have to choose from doesn't need to be pointed out here: obviously electing any of them would pretty much be a disaster for human history, but they're so all completely unelectable in a race with the current office holder that I can't say I'm worried. I will say that I think the utter nuttiness of the GOP at this time is probably having a favourable effect on how people are viewing the Harper government here in Canada. They've defined conservatism so crazily and unrecognizably now in the United States that our own PM's brand of the substance can't help look utterly reasonable and moderate by comparison.

I guess she owes us all an apology

I found it amusing that the stories on Mohawk convert Kateri (aka Catherine) Tekakwitha being given sainthood today don't mention the writer most responsible for her being known by pretty much outside of native Canadian circles: Leonard Cohen, who used Tekakwitha as a central character in his problematic 1966 novel Beautiful Losers, once called "the most revolting book ever written in Canada" by critic Robert Fulford. Yes, it's derivations from Joyce and others are clear, but the "God is Afoot" chapter and the Tekakwitha wine scene (from which the post title is taken) remain two of the most vividly memorable pieces of prose I've ever read. (As for the Danish Vibrator, enough has been written by earnest undergraduates to make anything I would say quite moot.) Anyway, I'm just glad Mr. Cohen lived to see this day: I'm sure he's amused.