Monday digest

- Things have been quiet here for the last few days because, as this columnist points out, things have been just too silly to comment on, not the least of which is Prime Ministerial aspirant Bob Rae skinny dipping with Rick Mercer.

Speaking of silly, could we be seeing the end of Hugo's day in the sun?
- So it WAS a nuke.

Even at that, I have a hard time caring.

- From the "you can't put lipstick on a pig" file, we have Iraq. I'm starting to wonder if history will treat the idea of nation-building in the Middle East in the same way that we treat the failed promises of socialism - delusional, starry-eyed and ultimately, foolish. A look at one small element of the issue, troop numbers, here and here, as "Jimmy Baker" (love it) suggests that the war in Iraq is unwinnable. In the end though, I think it's still premature to call it a completely lost cause because no one knows what the hell is REALLY going on.

- I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of gay marriage because its natural extension is genderless parenting, a concept that I think is foolhardy at best (hey, who needs fathers?) and dangerous (militant, man-hating lesbians and feminist academics who see the nuclear family as an oppressive, archaic institution, come on down!) at worst. However, some conservatives make a case for gay marriage that I think deserves a fair hearing.

Also, one has to wonder about, say, gay parents who desire to adopt a child from Africa. It would be the height of stubbornness not to allow a child from the Third World the chance to live a life in a country like Canada or the US just because their adoptive parents would be gay, especially considering we have straight parents like Madonna and her husband who do the same thing but for more cynical reasons.

It's not politically correct to say it, but personally, I believe right down to my very core that the best foundation on which to raise a child is two loving parents of the opposite sex within a committed and stable relationship. I also think that aspiring to anything else as a society is doing a disservice to that child even though other forms of family with lots of excellent parents out there may exist (and yes, I realize the horses are way out of the barn, so to speak). That being said, even if gay marriage can't, by definition, be procreative in nature, intellectually there are cases like the one I cited above where gay parenting is preferable. However, it's when society openly endorses a structure that downplays or ignores the importance of gender roles within parenthood that I think things are likely to go awry. In any case, the debate is over in Canada, for better or for worse, and so it's academic anyways.

- Ah, the good ol' campus left never fails to disappoint, does it? More here.

- On that note, the most tasteless woman in America, here.

(I hope she was joking.)

- Finally, a former Chretien-era cabinet minister and caucus chair is now fighting the good fight for the payday loan industry. You know, the ones who charge about 40% interest and are disproportionately used by the less fortunate and underprivileged to make ends meet?

Liberal values, indeed.