Angel >> Alberta gay-rights pioneer Delwin Vriend Ask any rural Albertan and they'll tell you: there are no faggots in their province. And until recently, they were more or less right. Alberta has been so inhospitable to gays and lesbians, most would either pack up and leave or remain in the closet. For decades, the provincial government has consistently, and happily, refused to protect homosexuals from discrimination in the Alberta bill of rights. But Edmonton's Delwin Vriend stuck it out: after being fired from his job because of his sexual orientation in 1990, Vriend took them to court. Eight years later, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its verdict, judging in Vriend's favour and telling the Alberta government to get its act together fast.

Insect >> Charlton Heston, gun-totin' Moses The probable heir to the U.S. National Rifle Association presidency, actor Charlton Heston, thinks his six-year-old grandson is just the type of person gun salespeople should be targeting. Firearm sales have been on the decline since the end of the '80s, when the adult male market became saturated. To keep the barrel of its economic guns loaded, the firearms industry made women shooters the target of its ad campaigns. But the female contingent failed to bite the bullet and now the crunch is on to salvage the marginalized arms market. Heston has said that he wants the NRA to raise $100 million over three years to promote guns to children.