Round up
Yes, we at the Woodshed are surfing the Internet so you don't have to, bringing you videos of evangelists calling for a holy enema and proof that God may exist and be answering prayers after all.

Toys for young Republicans can be found at the Baby Bush Toys catalogue site, but if you really want to brainwash your youngster, Jesus wants you to buy one of these talking biblical action figures . Tom Waits sang about his chocolate Jesus, but you choose the confectionary deity of your choice.

Take a minute to enjoy some 60-second Shakespeare courtesy of the BBC.

(and a top of the ol' snap brim to all those at the hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy that supplied some of the links)

Papers please...
This kind of Gestapo shit really has to be stopped. Anyone who thinks The United States is not becoming a police state really is dreaming. It could be argued I think that it already has become a police state, but the cops just haven't quite cottoned on to the fact that they can now do whatever they want if they dress it up as part of the war on terror or the war on drugs. What is really going on is a war on freedom. I don't doubt that the powers that be may have had the best intentions but when you start handing over the kind of power the Patriot Act gives and combining it with the current administrations willingness to just ignore the law (see FISA and Bush's NSA domestic surveillence program) as it suit them and you get Italy circa 1936, but with leader with a weaker chin.

Steven Harper and coffee in Kandahar
Canada's new Prime Minister has been beset by allegations of unethical behavior over floor crossings and Senate appointments and refuses to meet with the federal ethics commissioner. His shaky popularitity is taking a pounding and so, following the example of his ideological inspiration, U.S. President Dubya McCodpiece, Stephen Harper decided to top-gun his way (see photos 8 and 9) into Afghanistan last week to visit the Canadian troops there. At least he didn't pretend to land a Sea King on a destroyer, and had the class not to play dress up and put on a Canadian Forces uniform or quasi-military flightsuit.

Whether you agree that Canada should be sending troops to Afghanistan or not -- and the Galloping Beaver makes a compelling case for deployment -- I think anyone with any respect for democracy and the troops being sent into harm's way would agree that the issue deserves to be discussed in Parliament. If the reasons for deployment are so clear and compelling - and I think they are - then what the hell is Peter MacKay afraid of? An open discussion of why they are being deployed does not mean that people don't support the troops, it means they don't take decisions to put them at risk lightly.

If, as Gen. Hillier suggests, we are liable to be in this for the next decade surely it merits some kind of public debate. Canadians will always support Canadian troops when their actions deserve support, but to our national credit, we will not tolerate abuses, unlike some of our allies.

"Two large double-doubles and a cruller, hold the shrapnel"

When I heard Harper had gone to Kandahar, I figured he'd have to go in with a very small contingent of press in order to make room in the C-130 for 3,000 take-out coffee's from Tim Hortons, but then I saw that Tim's is opening a local branch. I'm not sure how Hortons plans to staff the Afghanistan outlet. Likely some poor soul in the Canadian Forces quartermasters corps will be trading his combat greens for Hortons' polyester browns, but I'd like to volunteer for the 1st Canadian Expeditionary Doughnuteers, maybe Rick Mercer could put in a good word for me with his skydiving buddy Gen. Hillier. I can only think that the reason they held off on doing this so long is that they were worried the armored personnel carriers would be pretty tough on the drive thru lane.

Real Amuricans don't need no fancy book learnin'
Some people are born ignorant and some have ignorance thrust upon them. Across the U.S. it seems there is a movement to get rid of the International Baccalaurate - check this article in the Guardian about a school board of ignorant conservatards that are out to give Kansas a run for its money.

At the high school level the program is usually a two year, highly academic program for juniors and seniors which is recognized as a first year course credit at many universities and colleges. As it is internationally recognized, the program is especially popular in international schools here in Japan. It's aim is to provide students with a comprehensive background in English, a foreign language, social studies, mathematics, and science. Also required are three other components: study of a Theory of Knowledge course—an interdisciplinary course which encourages critical thinking; Participation in 3 - 4 hours of extra-curricular activities per week with emphasis on volunteer community service; completion of a 4,000 word essay written independently, with guidance from a faculty adviser

Read the Guardian article to get the exact statements, the gist of the objections to the IB are that it is anti-Christian, anti-military and anti-American, promotes disarmament, multiculturalism, evironmentalism, a more even distribution of wealth (read "Marxism") and the importance of international institutions such as the United Nations (read "One World Government" and is just plain "too foreign" -- it was, after all, developed in France and the organization that administers and coordinates the program is still headquartered there.

Even the President has embraced the IB program and called for its expansion in the U.S., but I guess that's not enough for those who think that Sunday School is all you need.

Oscar winning rabbits
A short animated feature that is just like Brokeback Mountain, but with bunnies. (warning: contains scenes of bunny love that dare not speak its name that may amuse )

Ponies!
Ride Holden, ride! Karma is a bitch, isn't it?

Don't worry about Dubya's lack of experience or ability, he'll be surrounded by top people. Top people I tell you!
Yes, top people like horse show producer-turned-emergency-nonresponse manager Michael Brown, patriotic tunesmith-turned-Attorney General John Ashcroft, Lawyer-shooter and oil industry bagman Bwana Dick Cheney, Republican party gofer-turned-NASA manager (at least in his own mind) George Deutsch and last but not least this goniff (Slate link via Atrios' Eschaton) who truly was almost as good a pick to head Health and Human Services as Brownie was to head up FEMA. Personally, I think you can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps and the choices he makes.