Marci McDonald, the face of the intolerant progressive left

I could use some prayers, folks.

Last night I got stuck in traffic on the way home, then discovered a disgusting sight when I opened one of my cabinets. The ants that have been showing up lately had discovered a couple of old jars of honey that yours truly had not thoroughly wiped down after using and, I dunno, about 50 of them were either drunkenly clustering around the lid or along the sides. These were big ants, too, not the little guys that usually come around sugar.

Ugh.

I pulled the containers out and brushed the fleeing ants onto the kitchen floor and began stamping on them like the wrath of God.

I was already feeling overtired and overworked, with so much to do. But I had to go out and get some ant traps and clean out this cabinet. Got stuck in traffic again because of the detour on the Queensway due to an accident yesterday. So, I'm listening to CBC Radio and that Marci McDonald was on the replay of The Current, talking about her book The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada. Do not buy this book. Do not support this kind of anti-Christian propaganda.

If you want to know how I felt, listen here. What a silly, smug woman, with an annoying way of inhaling through her nose in a whoosh of air before her breathy preachy answers. She rather epitomized the "nice" totalitarianism of the progressive left. A friend had told me about this interview and had had the same reaction, not only to McDonald but to the CBC interviewer.

Barrel Strength writes:

This morning I believe I have found a worthy successor to Linda McQuaig’s mantle as Canada’s weedy and not very bright leftist. Marci McDonald, who has just scribbled the tome The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, regaled listeners with a conspiracy theory marked by the same depth of research as those who are convinced the moon landings were faked by NASA.

Am I exaggerating? Consider these cubic zirconia-like gems of wisdom:

How was Stephen Harper transformed into a millenialist Protestant fundamentalist? Preston Manning encouraged him to read C.S. Lewis and Malcolm Muggeridge.

• Obviously reading the contemplations of Anglo Catholics is the gateway drug to eschatological fanaticism. And Khalil Gibran’s “The Prophet” will set you on the path to jihadism.

Christian activists look to the growth of the Fraser Institute as a model for research and advocacy. But the media no longer calls the Fraser Institute “extreme right-wing”. So Christian activists are working under stealth.

• Because it is inconceivable that the Fraser Institute could have somehow developed a reputation for policy analysis over the course of years. And only Marci McDonald has remained immune to Michael Fraser’s use of The Voice as taught to him by the Bene Gesserit Order.

The naming of Canada can be attributed to fundamentalist biblical prophecy.

• The Dominion of Canada and the motto “A mari usque ad mare? The work of notorious end-of-days advocate Sir Samuel Leonard Tiley. Or maybe not quite .

Clearly “The Current” is degenerating into the “Coast to Coast AM” for the brie and chardonnay set.

Rick Hiebert writes at Bene Diction:

Today is the day that Marci McDonald’s book on the Christian Right in Canada, “The Armageddon Factor” is released. And we have a de facto confirmation, via the press release for the book, that the book’s release was targeted for the same day as the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa, where various social conservatives gathered to eat, pray and hang out together.

Ha ha ha, some of the best action from the "Christian right" came from New Democrat Leader Jack Layton at the scary mushrooming Canadian National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast. And oh, that scary Olympic medalist Cindy Klassen and her terrifying sister Lisa!

Charles Lewis at the National Post nails exactly what is wrong with Marci McDonald and her ilk:

By now I should be be used to this particular view of the world: it’s one in which only bad people, fanatics and crazies disagree with Canadian values, whatever those are. It is a world of “we” versus “them.” And we all know who “we” are and we certainly know “them.”

It is a world in which certain views are smart and others are for rubes. It is a world in which religion has no place in public life, unless, of course, it is “moderate” religion that is never judgmental, thinks of sin as medieval and whose values are always vague and never challenging to anyone.

It is a world in which anyone who strays outside the narrow realm of proper Canadian debate is an enemy.

Marci McDonald, author of The Armageddon Factor, a book about the rise of the Christian right in Canada, was a guest Tuesday morning on The Current, a CBC radio show where people with the above-mentioned world view are frequent guests.

Ms. McDonald believes there is a dangerous rise in the religious right in this country and most good Canadians are sleepwalking into a political nightmare, much like she witnessed in the United States under Ronald Reagan.

Related column: Don Martin: Author warns of growing influence of religious right in Canadian politics

She warned of a Canada rife with divisiveness, as we see today in the United States, if we continue down this scary right fork in the road.

Yet, for all her warnings, Ms. McDonald, with the cozy support of host Gillian Findlay, was the only one being divisive. By the end of the discussion, it was clear that anyone who might have concerns about abortion, who still regrets Parliament’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage, or who gives 100% support to Israel is a danger to the nation.

Put another way, anyone who disagrees is an enemy — though Ms. McDonald was far too polite to just spit it out that plainly.

“A lot of us in the mainstream media stopped paying attention to them after the same-sex vote,” she explained about how most of us hoped the religious conservatives would vanish once same-sex marriage was enshrined in law. “And we really thought they would go away.”

He concludes, and I heartily agree, except for the sweet voice part. Cloying is a better word but maybe men like that kind of voice, I dunno:

Ms. McDonald has a sweet voice and Ms. Findlay has the self-assurance of a veteran broadcaster. But together, they helped present a deeply paranoid view of the world in which only one side is ever right.

The next time these two go hunting for real intolerance in this country, they should simply look at each other.

Pray for me. The ants are back and they don't seem that interested in the traps I have set. And pray that the tactics of the tyrants of nice will blow up in their faces, that the culture war they hope to create by demonizing Christians and social conservatives will lead to Road to Damascus experiences where truth and love break in on their lives in dramatic and personal ways.

I'm all for living and letting live but I do not want the ideology of the Marci McDonalds of this world shoved down my throat and paid for by my tax dollars on the CBC.

Sell the CBC.