Monthly Archive for March, 2009Page 2 of 6

Petition: Up yours, islamic censorship

Published
by
nullifidian
on March 26, 2009
.

Evil Burnee has made me aware of a new petition, this one quite close to my heart (so to speak) considering that it involves a staggering encroachment into free-speech and additional religious privilege.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure that the UK Government uses all of its powers to reject and, if possible, veto any attempt at the United Nations to limit free speech in relation to religion and any associated attempt to criminalise the criticism of religion and encourage other governments to similarly reject/veto any such attempt.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference, a voting block within the United Nations, is currently attempting to use its power within that organisation to seek to have a binding resolution made attempting to force governments to criminalise freedom of expression. In pursuing this course of action it seeks to promote the idea that religion can be defamed and that criticism of religion should be outlawed.

This is a gross violation of the most basic and fundamental of Human Rights, that of freedom of speech. It must be countered by all governments wherever possible and properly identified for what it is, a blatant attempt to stifle debate and criticism of religion. Religions do not have rights, people do. Whilst this is being introduced by Islamic countries it is not specific to the religion of Islam.

The original non-binding resolution can be found on the UN web site.

If you—like me—refuse to kowtow to dogma, refuse to give up your liberty to criticise religion (and especially the actions of those who act with religious certainty) and refuse to give religions the respect they think they deserve then please sign this petition.

Additional reading

/hattip: Notes from an Evil Burnee

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Pickychicky

Published
by
possum_momma
on March 25, 2009
.
Pickychicky commented and asked for an update. She's right. An update is more than overdue.

I'm still gun-shy about posting too much on this blog. Certain people are eager to use anything said as ammunition. Apparently, there are friends of mine who still get flack and weekly inquiries about my existence. (frown)

The kids and I are plugging along. I still have majority custody of them and contrary to what's been posted elsewhere, there's been no justification for changing that.

I won't talk about Pdaddy. He is an individual in his own rite and should speak for himself. I don't understand his choices or his behavior. I can only speak for myself. I'm adjusting. It's really hard adjusting to life as a single mother of four after being with your best friend/life partner for almost a decade. I miss Mike: I can't lie. It's strange not having him around to talk to and I miss the relationship I thought we had. There are times when I really wish he was home. Then I realize that his actions prohibit the trust that's necessary in having that sort of relationship. I will say he's been very helpful with my latest hiccup.

I hurt my knee pretty badly. It's made life complicated.

The kids are adjusting. P2 is such a rock. I really value his contributions to our new family. He's been busy with drumline and scouts. P1 is a fourteen year old girl - focused on school and planning for the future. Having a teenage girl is an experience. P3 is dealing with the situation in the best way she can. She, rightfully and understandably, misses what was. P4 is my daily reminder that childhood is a gift and he takes up most of my attention. We're busy with creating new schedules and enjoying one another.

I've been trying to keep up with my friends online. It's difficult. There just aren't enough hours in a day. If you want to call me, that's probably an easier way to contact me.

I hope to get back into blogging (late this summer). I need to take care of other priorities first. I miss you all terribly. I hope you all know that. *hugs*

Objectum Sexual

Published
by
HumanistDad
on March 25, 2009
.
Learn about the bizarre condition of 'Objectum Sexual' - people who have sexual attractions to objects. They don't just use an object for sex, they actually are sexually attracted to the object itself.

Part 1:


What I find even more strange is that people who have clearly unusual perspectives on the world are functional. They think, they act, they participate (sort of) in society and yet, .... and yet.

It's easy to say they're crazy, but it's their otherwise normal behaviour that really puzzles me. If crazy, I'd expect them to be completely irrational, running wild, screaming gibberish but they don't.

I guess as long as they keep their odd behaviour to themselves and don't harm anyone, there's nothing to be concerned about.

(picked up from Daniel Florian )

Humanist Symposium

Published
by
Psychodiva
on March 25, 2009
.

I shall be hosting the next Humanist Symposium from 12th April. There should be a good variety of posts for your reading pleasure :) I look forward to it

Left Wing vs.Right Wing: Are They The Same?

Published
by
HumanistDad
on March 25, 2009
.
I'm starting to think that all arguments from the Left and the Right boil down to a simple Argument from Authority. Maybe this is too simplistic but hear me out.

Conservatives point to traditional authority, God, Country, Leaders, Parents, etc, as a source for how we should behave. Last night I read an excellent point from Jared Diamond's book, "Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail or Succeed":

The values to which people cling most stubbornly under inappropriate conditions are those values that were previously the source of their greatest triumphs over adversity.


Conservatives look to the past as evidence for behaviour today. Since a certain set of rules led to a favourable outcome, a return to these old ways will solve a current problem. This was a 'light bulb' moment for me regarding dogmatic theists. They really are using evidence for support of their positions and really do believe that their assumptions are true. Asking people to 'accept god' is really asking people to accept the wisdom of the past that will fix a problem today. They don't necessarily understand why the old ways will work, but they believe it will.

Liberals, on the other hand, also argue from authority but, at first glance, it's not clear who the authority is. I believe the answer is everyone. Liberals want to solve problems by asking everyone to find their own answers. This is what leads liberals to an extreme form of tolerance where we are expected to view everyone's ideas on equal ground. Don't hurt anybody's feelings by telling them they are wrong; accept that maybe they are right and that your idea is no better than anyone else's. Let everyone be the master of their domain. Liberals are pointing to the future to fix problems by expecting each person to eventually develop a problem-solving system that will work for them.

These approaches are incompatible. Conservatives want someone to be in charge and liberals want everyone to be in charge. Ironically, Conservatives are in the better position because they have evidence from history on their side. Liberals only have 'hope' that people will find their way.

I see only one solution here. Abandon all arguments from authority. But with no one in charge, how do we make decisions? Instead of following what we think, or what other people tell us, we must use the most important tool mankind has ever devised: The Scientific Method.

We need to stop trusting what people say or what our 'gut' tells us. We need to apply the scientific method to lead us to useful answers. Conservatives need to understand that past success is not a guarantee of future success. Conditions change and a method that worked yesterday, may not apply even if the situation looks similar. Liberals need to stop assuming everyone has equal ideas. Some are just plain wrong and we need to confront those ideas head on.

Instead, let's use the scientific method to evaluate our options and find the best possible solutions, no matter who does the experiment.

Jesus, Good Luck

Published
by
Michel
on March 24, 2009
.

Someone just rang at the door and offered me to participate in a celebration of Jesus in the neighborhood.  I answered that I wished him good luck.

He didn’t get it and asked if I was interested to learn more about Jesus. I repeated that I wished him good luck in his enterprises, he left.

The Jesus of the age

I’m not sure but I think it was our parish priest.  The Catholics are frenetic with Easter coming…  Here’s a collage I made: The Jesus Of The Age, constantly re-manufactured through time.

Myths, legends and superstitions have incredible long lives, which tends to show that imagination is useful in evolutionary terms.

I heard someone saying that at least, priests don’t reproduce.  It is true, but the really serious problem is that they teach errors, misconceptions, biases and worse.

I find nothing to celebrate here.

From One Life

Mohammed Brand Condoms

Published
by
nullifidian
on March 24, 2009
.

Warning: if you’re one of those muslims that gets upset at the drop of a hat kufi or because you think a bunch of letters arranged in the sequence

M O H A M M E D

have some special or magical significance, you probably shouldn’t watch the following video. Really. I mean it. Because I know how some of you get all bent out of shape and (start threatening to) kill folk because they don’t or won’t dhimmise1 themselves or kowtow to your super-special-invisible-sky-friend.

The rest of us can watch it and maybe have a wee chuckle. Or not, depending how uptight you are.

Mohammed Brand Condoms, courtesy of The Nose On Your Face (home of Islamic Rage Boy©).

/hattip: Godless not gormless over atThe Freethinker.

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Ayn Rand’s weird obsession with a killer

Published
by
Kazim
on March 24, 2009
.
As much as I have come to dislike Ayn Rand, I was initially hesitant to believe this story about her idolization of a murderer. But it seems pretty well sourced.

As revealed in a book of Rand's journals, when she was about 23 she wrote of her admiration for a fellow named William Hickman, who was executed by hanging in 1928. Rand quoted Hickman saying "What is good for me is right," while stating her feeling that this was "The best and strongest expression of a real man's psychology I have heard."

Why was Hickman executed? Well, long story short, it turns out that he kidnapped the twelve year old daughter of a wealthy banker, and sent several taunting ransom notes over the next several days. When the father finally paid the ransom, Hickman returned the girl.

In pieces. He took the money, threw the upper half of her body in the street, and drove away. He then eluded capture for about a week before being taken, tried, convicted, and executed.

Needless to say, Hickman became a deeply unpopular guy... but in recounting the incident, Rand said that the public's hatred was "because of the man who committed the crime and not because of the crime he committed."

She went on to say: "The first thing that impresses me about the case is the ferocious rage of a whole society against one man. No matter what the man did, there is always something loathsome in the 'virtuous' indignation and mass-hatred of the 'majority.'... It is repulsive to see all these beings with worse sins and crimes in their own lives, virtuously condemning a criminal..."

Um, no. Most people don't have worse skeletons in their closet than murdering a little girl, chopping her into pieces, and throwing those pieces at the distraught parent. And it's not loathsome to hate a guy who would do that. I don't know about you, but to suggest that public outrage over a genuinely outrageous act is somehow wrong indicates an extremely backwards ethical system to me.

Also interesting to me is where Rand idolizes his, er, "unconventional" lifestyle choice by denouncing a typical life thus: "What had society to offer him? A wretched, insane family as the ideal home, a Y.M.C.A. club as social honor, and a bank-page job as ambition and career..."

To me this suggests nothing so much as one of those hideous Christian sermons where the preacher proceeds to ridicule and dismiss anything that might serve as contributing value and meaning to a person's life outside the religion. You know... "Human relationships aren't reliable; your friends will abandon you. You'll work for 40 hours a week at a soul crushing job that will leave you feeling empty until you retire, impoverished and alone..." Etc. Nothing gives your life meaning, of course, except Jesus Christ.

It's a profoundly negative message, because many people DO find satisfaction and fulfillment in careers, relationships, hobbies, and other worldly pursuits. But religions do their best to rip that satisfaction away and leave people feeling like they'll be miserable without the current product being sold. I was just reading a few chapters of "The Conquest of Happiness" by Bertrand Russell, in which he praised the possession of a zest for life, finding joy in even the trivial things that you like doing.

Rand's worship of her perceived "superman" always seems to have come at the cost of a certain overall contempt for most of mankind -- who, it seems, are constantly being portrayed as deserving to die in a train wreck, or have their kids murdered by superior men.

The Biological World

Published
by
Michel
on March 24, 2009
.


When I first saw Carl Sagan's Cosmos, I never thought it would still be necessary, almost thirty years later, to be argueing these points over and over again...

This program (Carl Sagan's Cosmos - Part 2, released in 1981, is posted here) should simply be required viewing for every kid, as soon as she or he can understand half the words Dr. Sagan uses. They all absolutely need to be exposed to these clear explanations on the "stuff of life" and what is the scientific worldview. Not just the bright, curious or scientifically-inclined child, every child should watch Cosmos. Better in an educational curriculum but if not, in all possible contexts.

I agree that "we are a way for the Cosmos to know itself" and I think that fighting ignorance is part of that job, still.

Side Note: At 43 min. he uses as demonstrations of DNA's vital role blood processes that would eventually lead to his death in 1996, of pneumonia caused by myelodysplasia an immune system disease. See also here.
From One Life

Failblog

Published
by
admin
on March 23, 2009
.

fail-owned-dangerous-church

Do I need to say more?

Failblog

Watch what you say if (you think) you are dying

Published
by
nullifidian
on March 23, 2009
.

The BBC reports that a U.S. man who made a death-bed confession and wanted to cleanse his soul, because he thought he was going to the great beyond has been arrested after confessing to a murder in Tennessee in 1977, after making a recovery from his assumed fatal affliction.

James Brewer could now face the death penalty over the unsolved killing in Tennessee 32 years ago, reports say.

Convinced he was dying after a stroke, Mr Brewer reportedly admitted to police he shot dead 20-year-old Jimmy Carroll.

The 58-year-old, who had fled Tennessee after the killing, was arrested after his condition improved, reports say.

Oopsie!

The former factory worker changed his name to Michael Anderson and settled down with his wife, Dorothy, in the town of Shawnee.

The couple became active members of the local church, where Mrs Brewer established a Bible study group, reports say.

After suffering a stroke, Mr Brewer called police to his hospital bedside earlier this month, where he reportedly made the confession.

One can only assume that if Mr Brewer attended his wife’s bible group, he might have asked her to ignore one of those darned inconvenient commandment things although their book does seem a little confused on the details.

Full article over at the BBC: “‘Deathbed confession’ man charged“.

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Superstition

Published
by
Michel
on March 23, 2009
.

Thirteen


ELEVEN PLUS TWO.
When you rearrange the letters:
TWELVE PLUS ONE


Is that confirmation or evidence?
The French certainly don't have to worry about this one!


Counter Measure:

Design Fiction, for a better, more creative use for imagination.
From One Life

Some agnostics are just as bad

Published
by
pseudonymouse
on March 23, 2009
.

I have been debating an agnostic in YouTube's frustrating 500 character chunks. An agnostic atheist, though he is almost as bad as a theist. I'll call him Azure because AzureFlameElk is a mouthful.

As an aside, where do people come up with these channel names? This one sounds like a cross between a flaming virgin and an antlered ungulate. I daresay that it has an interesting etymology.

(I'd better explain - a flaming virgin is not a tragically foolish Muslim girl (very sad thought, that) or an expletive about a girl who's clinging to her viginity. It's actually an alcoholic drink that has been ignited. Why would anyone want to burn off the alcohol?)

Back to Azure. He starts out with "Anyone rational is agnostic." This, of course implies that anyone who is not agnostic is irrational. (Matters get worse — he believes that everyone should be agnostic about everything. I'll get to that later. Azure has an unfortunate fondness for categorical statements, given his certainty that all is unknowable.)

"Anyone rational is agnostic" reveals more about his ego than the truth value of this claim. As an atheistic atheist, I am not in the least insulted by this provocative, categorical claim, largely because I think that it is incorrect.

Admittedly, we ought to be agnostic about proclaiming knowledge of anything for which there is no possible evidence. That's the broader definition of agnosticism, particularly as applied to theistic claims.

However, some claims, like Russell's Teapot and religion have clearly been invented for a purpose. Many claims are falsifiable — the metaphysical claims in the Bible, for instance. Once such claims have been falsified, honest theists retreat into "it's allegorical" excuses, while dishonest theists simply resort to denial of the falsification. There are lots of both types around, and if Azure wishes to call non-agnostic and gnostic theism "irrational", then I am in full accord.

One point about deities, whether they have been protected by an invented cloak of supernaturalism or not, is that they are not worth worshipping if they cannot manifest in the physical. Animistic deities were a personification of physical manifestations such as drought, flood, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and such like. Myth inventors should have stopped there.

The second point is that it has been consistently demonstrated that all our mental and life processes are associated with the physical — including love and other emotions, such as appreciation of beauty. This monism makes it irrational to claim that we comprise dualistic body and supernatural-mind divisions. Monism denialists generally resort to ad hoc pseudoexplanations in a vain attempt to get around this huge problem.

Obviously, the dualist claim has two sources — pre-scientific difficulty with comprehending the relationship between matter and mind, and the religiously- and emotionally-motivated desire to believe in an afterlife. (If one sucks up to Jesus enough, hell is the exclusive destination of one's enemies.)

...to be continued...

Atheist Blogroll

Published
by
anderebiste
on March 23, 2009
.
(((Billy))) The Atheist
1 2 3 Religious Comics
2000 Years of Deception
40 Year Old Atheist
A bordo del "Otto Neurath"
A Death In The Ballroom
A Division by Zer0
A geocentric view
A Goat Called Nebulous
A Hindu Atheist
A Hint of Neurosis
A Human Mind
A is for Atheist
A Man Said To The Universe
A place where laughter, sorrow, anger and disgust live.
A Positive view of Atheism
A Voice Crying in the Metropolis
A Whore in the Temple of Reason
A-Deistic
AAAardvarchaeology
AASAUF
Abandoning Eden
About: Agnosticism / Atheism
Aces Full of Links
Action Skeptics
Addicted to Research
After Atheism
After Faith
Agni Setu
Agnisetu
Agnostic Atheism
Agnostic Universe Blog
Aidan Maconachy blog
Al-Kafir Akbar!
Alexander the Atheist
Alex's Heresies
All that is, and all that shall be.
Am I mad, or is the world?
Amused Muse
An Apostate's Chapel
An Atheist Woman's Point Of View
An Enlightened Observer
An Inevitable Conflict
An Insane Existence
Anal Iced Bible
Anatheist.net
And Say We Did
And That's How You Live With A Curse
Anders Rasmussen Blog
Andrew Clapper on...
Angels Depart
Angry Astronomer
Angry by Choice
Answers in Genesis BUSTED!
Anti Deity Militia
Antimattr
Apple of Doubt
Arcis Logos
Arizona Atheist
ars nesciendi
Ateistbloggen
Atheism and Coffee
Atheism Ascending
Atheism Examiner
Atheism Is Not Evil
Atheism Online
Atheism Sucks - sucks
Atheism simra.net
Atheism: Proving The Negative
Atheist A Go-Go!
Atheist Anonymous
Atheist Armaments
Atheist Bitch
Atheist Blogs Aggregated
Atheist Ethicist
Atheist Girls
Atheist Haven
Atheist Hussy
Atheist Jew in Germany
Atheist Liberty
Atheist Media Blog
Atheist Momma
Atheist Movies
Atheist Observer
Atheist Okie
Atheist Peace
Atheist Propaganda
Atheist Revolution
Atheist Think Tank
Atheist Tuesday
Atheist Wisdom
Atheista
Atheistkiwi's Weblog
Atheists And Christians Community Blog
Atheists at the Table
Atheists Rule!
AtheisTube
Atheoi.org
Atheology
Axis of Jared
Ayrshire Blog
Babble and Rants
Babble, bullshit, blasphemy and being.
Bad Thinking
Barrum Bright Blog
Bass
Bay of Fundie
Beaman's World
Because No One Asked
Being Human
Beliefs, Religion and Reason
Ben's Place
Berto: Philosophy Monkey
Bert's Blog
Beyond Belief
BHA Science Group
Bible Study for Atheists
biblioblography
BiddiesInMyBrain
Billion Dollar Baloney
bits of starstuff
Bjorn & Jeannette's Blog
Black Coffee
Black Sun Journal
Black Woman Thinks
Blasphemous Blogging
Bligbi
Blogesque
Bloggin' Off
Blurp
Bob Kowalski
bore me to tears
Bracing Truth
brainstorms
Breaking Spells
British Atheists
Bruises Colours
BSAlert.com
Buridan's Ass
Burnt Sushi: From the mind of a libertarian atheist
By The Book Comics
cabhara's zeitgeist
Candy Coloured Frown
Canterbury Atheists
Can't make a difference
CaroLINES
CASE: The Center for Atheistic Secular Evangelism
CHADMAC Speaks
Chaos Maniac
chedstone.com
Chimaera Contemplations
Choosing Atheism
CHRISTIAN PWNAGE 101
ChristopherSisk.com
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Circular Reasoning
Cogita Tute - Think For Yourself
cognitive dissident
Coming Out Godless
Compendium of Religious Evil
Conclusions worth jumping to
Confessions of an Anonymous Coward
Conscious Zombie
Conversational Atheist
Cosmic Variance
Covert History
Create Cognitive Dissonance
Creationist Idiocy
Creative Century
Critical Mass
Crowded Head, Cozy Bed
Cubik's Rube
Cultural Naturalism Report
Culture for all
Cupcakes in Hell
Daily Atheist
DAILY BBG
Daily Rant
Dark Christianity
Dark Matter, USA
Dark Side of Mars
darwinian remiix
Darwin's Dagger
Day & Nite
Daylight Atheism
Debunking Christianity
Deconverts
Deep Thoughts
Deeply Blasphemous
Deranged Ramblings of an Angry Reptile Keeper
Desperately Seeking Ethics and Reason
Deutschland Uber Elvis
DEVOUT Atheist Godless Grief
Diaphanitas
Diary of a Teenage Atheist
Did a guy named Phil start Philosophy?
Dikkii's Diatribe
Dime a dozen
Disaffected and it Feels So Good
discernible chaos
DisComforting Ignorance
Disgusted Beyond Belief
Disillusioned Words
Dispatches from the Culture Wars
do not read this blog
do you feel loved?
Doazic's Weblog
DoctorE
Dorset Humanists blog
Doubting Even Thomas
DOUBTING FAITH?
Dr. Joan Bushwell's Chimpanzee Refuge
Dragged From the Bottom
Drunk in Ontario
Dubiosity
Dubito Ergo Sum
Duplicitous Primates
Dwindling In Unbelief
Easy to be Entreated
eAtheists.com
Ecographica
Ecstathy
Edger
Edward T. Babinski
EK's blog
Elaine Vigneault
Elliptica
Emancipate Yourselves From Mental Slavery
EnoNomi
EonBlue
Escaping Christianity
Ethics Gradient
European Alliance for Rational Thought
evanescent
Everyday Humanist
Everything Is Pointless
Evolution
Evolutionary Middleman
EvolutionBlog
Evolved and Rational
exapologist
ExChristian.Net
Excursions into the mundane and the revealing...
Exercise in Futility
Expletive Deleted
Explicit Atheist
Exsisto Sane
Eyebrow Ascendant
f think
faith in honest doubt
Fed Up with Religion
Feersum Endjinn
Ferret's Cage
Fish Wars on Cars
Five Public Opinions
Fleeing Nergal, Seeking Stars
Flex Your Head
Flumadiddle
forms most beautiful...
Forte �tude
Fox Valley Thinker
Free Infidel
Freethinker Nation
Freethought
FreeThought by a FreeThinker
Freethought Weekly
FreThink
Friendly Atheist
Frodology
Fundamentalist Deceit
Gary William Murning Online
Geoff Arnold
Ghosts of Minnesota
God And State
God Be Gone - Atheist News
God is for Suckers!
God is Pretend
Godless Blogger
Godless in America
Godless on the Wasatch Front
Godless Sunday
Godless Woman
Goosing the Antithesis
Gospel of Reason
grattans.us
Gratuitous Common Sense
Green Atheist Blog
Greg Hartnett
Greg Laden's Blog
Greta Christina's Blog
Grey and White Matter
Gynocide
halls of macadamia
Happily Godless
Happy Jihad's House of Pancakes
HASSERS
Heathen Queer
Heathen.TV
heaving dead cats
Hellbound Alleee
hell's handmaiden
Heretic's Altar
heterodox
Heuristicism
Hokum-Balderdash Assay
Holy Freak
Homo economicus' Weblog
Homologous Legs
Honjii's Harangues
Hot Dogs, Pretzels, and Perplexing Questions
Howe's Life?
Human Psyche of J.D. Crow
Humans: The Other White Meat
Humbuggery
I Am An Atheist
i get pissed
I Never Shut Up
I traded my soul for happiness
Ian's Brain
Ice Station Tango
IDiosyntocracy
In Defence Of Reason
In the grip of hysteria
Incessant Expressions
indoctriNATION
Infidel boy in Blabber mode
INFIDELIS MAXIMUS
Infinite monkeys, infinite keyboards
Infophilia
Inkblot Icon
Inside the mind of a Born Again Atheist
intelligent or silly design ?
Interested
Interesting
INTJ Mom
Intrepidon
Ionian Enchantment
Is it just me?
it's about time
izzworld dot org
jdc325's Weblog
Jeber's
Jeebus Freaks
Jewelisms
Jewish Atheist
Joe's Big Blog
Judith's thought-provoking hard-hitting journal
Just a whisper in the wind
Just Another Atheist
Just Another Atheist
Jyunri Kankei
K H A L A S !
KafirGirl
Kapanalig Sa Wala
Kelosophy
Kergillian
Kieran Bennett
Kill The Afterlife
King Aardvark
Lab Kat
Laytheism
le tiers monde
leaping rabbit/lapin sauteur
Leicester Secularist
Les non-sens de Jean Staune
Let Go - Forget God
Let There Be Light
Letras Nocturnas
Letters from a broad
Liberal Debutante
Library Grape:
Life & Otherwise
Life According to Mike White
Life before death
Life is an adventure
Life Without Faith
Life, the Universe and Everything
LifecruiserLive From Beer Can Hill
Live From Beer Can Hill
Living the Scientific Life
Living with Missy and other thoughts
Logic's Last Stand
LOL god
Lolkoran
Lone Wolfs Den
Look at the Bright's Side
Lord of the atheists
Lori Stephens
Love the Nimbu
Lubab No More
lynn's daughter, thinking
Madman's Paradise
Making My Way
Masala Skeptic
Matt's Notepad
Matt's Truthonomics
Maximum Likelihood
mcgees.org
Means & Ends
Mechanical Crowds
mediawatchwatch.org.uk
Meet An Atheist
Memoirs of a (G)a(y)theist
Memoirs of an ex-Christian
Men: Leave Church
Mere Skepticism
Merit-bound Alley
Mickipedia
Midwest Atheist
MigrationsMike's Weekly Skeptic Rant
mindcore
MINISTER OF RANTS
Mirth, Musings, & More
Misc. Musing
Mississippi Atheists
Missives from the Frontal Lobe
mister jebs blog
Modern Agnostic
Moiz Khan - The godless Liberal
Mothrust
Much ado about nothing
mushinronsha
My Case Against God
My Dirty Little Secret . . .
My Elemental Muse
My Goddless Drama
My Life Thinly Disguised as Groove
My Long Apostasy
My Single Mom Life
My Solitude Of Space
Mystery of Mysteries
Naastika
Nanovirus
Nathan Bond
Natural Reckonings
Naturalistic Atheism
Near Earth Object
Neural Gourmet
New Humanist Blog
New National Reformer
New York Philosopher
News From the Front - Fair and Balanced
Nice Marmot
Nicest Girl and Destroyer of Planets
Nick Harding
Nihilist Future
Nirmukta
No Double Standards
No Gods Allowed
No More Fake Gods
No More Hornets
No more Mr. Nice Guy!
Nobody's There...
NoBS Radio Show
NoGodBlog.com
Non Credo Deus
Non-Prophet
North Alabama Rant
Not really, Alice.
Notes from an Evil Burnee
Nothing Is Sacred
Null Session
Nullifidian
Nut Watch
N^4
Obscene Desserts
Obsessed with reality
Odder Stories
Of Microbes and Men
Oh The Stupidity!
ohm sweet ohm
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olio
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Liberal Party member Chris Abood on the internet blacklist

Published
by
arthurvandelay
on March 23, 2009
.

From his recent Online Opinion piece:

So how does one get blacklisted?

Quite easily.

There are two ways to end up on the blacklist, either through direct channels or inadvertently. Currently, if I come across a website that I do not approve of either because I believe it is illegal or does not suit my ideological bent, I can make a complaint to the ACMA. In order to make a complaint, I must be an Australian resident or a company that carries on activities in Australia, provide the internet address and/or sufficient access details to enable ACMA to access the online content and provide reasons as to why I believe the online content is prohibited. The ACMA will then make a determination as to whether that site is added to the blacklist. It is not clear how the ACMA makes this determination. It has also been reported that other bodies such as filter software companies can also add websites to the blacklist. It is not clear how this is policed.

So how does one inadvertently end up on the list? Imagine that Big Buba from the Buba crime syndicate published a websites called FriendlyTours.com. However this is a front for an illegal website publishing unsavoury pictures. The site is found, a complaint made to ACMA and rightly added to the blacklist. A few weeks later, Big Buba closes down the site and moves to a new domain called BubaTours.com to try and keep ahead of the authorities. This site is also added to the blacklist and a few weeks later the site moves again and again.

Meanwhile, Jan who has been working for a large multi-national for 20 years is called into her manager’s office and told that she is being made redundant. With her large redundancy cheque, she decides to pursue her dream of running a tour business. She calls her business Friendly Tours and finds that the domain name is available. She registers the domain name and has a nice website built.

Jim, a dentist, decides to have a website built for his practice. His Internet Service Provider assigns his domain JimsDentistry.com to an IP address that was previously occupied by BubaTours.com. Both Jim and Jan are friends of mine. I offer to help them increase their Google rankings by linking to their sites through my website, my blog and my Facebook page.

A few weeks go by and Jim and Jan start getting emails from people saying they cannot access their websites. They don’t know why. They try to contact me for an explanation but cannot get hold of me. That is because I am in court being fined $11,000 a day for linking to a banned site. The people who emailed Jim and Jan are also in court facing jail terms of ten years for trying to access a site contained on the blacklist.

This blacklist is to form the backbone of the government’s mandatory filtering regime. The leaked list apparently contains 2,395 websites. The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy wants to expand this to 10,000 websites. Will the ACMA be under pressure to find sites, any sites, to reach this number? The legitimacy of the blacklist will always be in question while owners of websites on the blacklist have no means of recourse especially if that site is legitimate.

Something I am curious about is whether this policy is unanimously supported or even popular among members of the ALP. If not, what are dissenting ALP members doing about it?


Christian Integrity – Lying for jesus

Published
by
[ Matt ]
on March 22, 2009
.
Someones pants are on fire! They are Chris Fox's!

After a long day of preaching about the virtues of faith based morality and the immorality of the godless how could a christian pastor relax? Well, for one such baptist pastor, Chris Fox, he decided his time would be best spent going to an atheist blog, unreasonable faith, and pretending to be an atheist while spouting some of the most vile opinions i have ever heard.

See, when the mentally defective are unable to defend their own position what they like to do is misrepresent the position of their opponent, it's called a strawman argument. and when the intellectually dishonest are unable to defend their own position they like to lie, pretend they are their opponent and misrepresent their views just so later they can point to their own fabricated post and shriek "look, i told you they were immoral!".

On this one occasion this so called "christian" decided that all atheists must be in favour of killing babies and decided he would pretend to be an atheist and make the following post;
What’s wrong with killing babies? I see no problem with it. I have enough mouths to feed. I don’t get the argument and I am an atheist. Since I don’t believe in God, I don’t believe in anything characterized as good, bad / right, wrong. So, what’s the big deal?

Despite being a low-life, deceitful, sinister, lying hypocrite Chris fox has also admitted to the more heinous crime of being a potential baby killer, should his faith ever fade.

what the religious don't understand is that by admitting that right and wrong can only be identified in line with their particular god they are essentially admitting that the only reason they don't "kill babies" is because they believe an invisible man is watching them. Which is probably the most immoral reason for doing good ever conceived.

Since the post was made Chris Fox had made an apology, well, they usually do after they are caught. I wonder if the apology would have been so forthcoming had the lie remained between him and his invisible friend? probably not... You aren't sorry for being a deceitful liar Chris, you are sorry that you got caught.

It makes one wonder if they actually believe in this shit any more than i do, Because hardly any of them abide by the standards they routinely demand for the rest of us.

Losing Wealth but not Finding God

Published
by
Strappado
on March 22, 2009
.
"Contrary to recent media reports suggesting that the country's economic troubles have led to higher levels of church attendance, a Pew Forum analysis of polls by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds that while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has shed over half its value since October 2007, there has been no increase in weekly worship service attendance during the same time period."


Pew Research, March 13, 2009

I just had to laugh at this graph, because I know all to well the joy some believers have that when finally the economy goes to hell, then perhaps the ungrateful will turn to the Lord. "No Atheists in an economic foxhole" and so on. But it's apparently not happening.
(In fact, if you look closely, the latter half of the church attendance graph is more below the 40 line than the first half.)

Name Change: International Society of Secularists

Published
by
Andrew
on March 22, 2009
.

Posted March 4, 2009 on Facebook:

Good Evening!
I hope you are doing well. I want to inform you that I have decided to rename the group I am founding the International Society of Secularists. I know many atheists will have concerns about this decision, so I would like to take a moment to explain it.
Atheists appear to be the most organized and active portion in the non-theist community, at least in English speaking countries. This activism and organization, especially over the last decade, has brought me hope for secularism. I do not take atheists for granted, and I hope they will continue to be interested in my organization.
I have found it very difficult to generate interest in my group from those who do not explicitly call themselves atheist but are nevertheless non-theists. I know many atheists might argue that other names for non-theist positions are all forms of atheism. However, I ultimately had to ask myself “What are the goals of the organization I want to form?” Although activism is certainly going to be a part of what we do, it will not be our main focus. Our purpose is to provide a source of cohesion for the secular community. We will do this by establishing social and support networks for non-theists, as well as providing services to both the public and to the secular community.
I know this decision will probably cause the organization to be viewed as a moderate group, and moderate theists and non-theists are sometimes criticized for their apparent lack of clarity and steadfastness. Let me be clear – the ISS stands for free thought and separation of church and state. It also embraces the use of reason and science over faith and tradition. I believe both moderate and more vocal groups are both important components of social movements.
You may have questions and concerns about my decision to change the name of the organization, and I welcome those. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to share your feedback and ideas. I hope that you will continue to show support and interest in the organization.

Sincerely,

Andrew J. Clapper
Founder
International Society of Secularists


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