Intellectual Waste

India and Censorship

2012-01-29T17:54:00.001-08:00

This is old news, but I have been waiting to find more information on the topic. It seems that India is targeting blasphemous material on the internet and trying to block it and take it down.

Addressing a press conference in the capital, Delhi, on Tuesday, Mr Sibal said he had asked the companies in September to remove images and statements deemed offensive to religious groups, but that they had ignored his requests.

He said: "My aim is that insulting material never gets uploaded. We will evolve guidelines and mechanisms to deal with the issue. They will have to give us the data, where these images are being uploaded and who is doing it."

Google seems to be supporting free speech and only removes illegal material. However, Facebook is a bit more wishy-washy on the topic and their policy is to:

remove any content that violates our terms, which are designed to keep material that is hateful, threatening, incites violence or contains nudity off the service

I can only recall them ever shutting down a few pages that were deemed controversial in my memory and those pages were re-instated after a bit. I believe Facebook's set up is much like YouTube where if something is flagged it is taken down until either reviewed or challenged and reviewed. I am not certain of this. If anyone has any more information please pass it along.

Fore more information I suggest reading this.

Either way, I was looking for something to target in my studies so Indian religions it is. I think I will go in chronological order of their creation. If memory serves correct that means Hinduism is up.

The Book of Mormon

2012-01-29T09:18:00.000-08:00

This is a bit late, but I have finally completed the Book of Mormon. That is the third religious text down on my adventures. Bible, Quran, Mormon. Of those three, the Book of Mormon is probably the easiest to read and has the fewest internal errors.

If you want a quick overview of the story and to get a feel of the the progression of events, there is a very colorful timeline available here.

I find the chronology of the book to be more interesting than say, the massive amounts of plagiarism. Modern archaeological and genetic understanding of the history of the First Nations of North America can give us quick refutation of pretty much the entire story found within the Book of Mormon.

A very quick summary for those who don't know. Around 600 B.C. a single family, joined later by a second, of Isrealites are led out of Isreal by their father Lehi and his son Nephi gets word from god to build a boat and sail to a new land where they will be saved from destruction of Babylon and preserved. They sail across the Atlantic ocean and into North America, near where New York state would be. The family eventually gets divided between those who follow Nephi and those who don't. Those who don't are cursed by God and their skin is turned dark. The two groups manage to quickly repopulate to the point where, within a couple hundred years, they are having wars where thousands of men are dying. Eventually Jesus comes after his work is done in Jerusalem and he unites all of the descendants of Lehi but a few hundred years after he leaves people become corrupted again and they go to war. The Christians are wiped out by the Lamenites (those whose skin was turned dark and didn't follow Christ).

Some points that stuck out a lot to me in this story are the use of scimitars. Shortly after they settled in the Nephites were using scimitars, they also had brass and bronze breast plates. The cities that they built were made of concrete. The list goes on. These are artifacts that were never found in any archaeological site in North America, to the best of my knowledge. Furthermore, there were remains of an older civilization, the Jaredites, who were those saved from the destruction of the Tower of Babel, which the Church of Later Day Saints places at about 2200 B.C., and wiped out before Lehi arrives, and they had similar marvels that haven't been found by any archaeologist to this day.

We also have some animals running around, wild and native to North America, that wouldn't have been there at that time. The horse, though having evolved in North America, were effectively extinct in both North and South America between 8 and 10,000 years ago. They were not re-introduced until the Spanish arrived in the 16th century.

The two other animals that stood out were the cow and elephant. Both animals make great appearances and are not native to the Americas, but brought over.

The last thing I want to point out is that in recent years, thanks to DNA sequencing, we can effectively prove that Native Americans are not of Jewish decent. I am sure they have come up with some excuses for that one, but honestly... I don't think I want to go there.

I am still considering which books to go after next. Hindu or Buddhist both are interesting, though Buddhism doesn't really have a single text to get through, and there are a wide range of sutta and dhamma that I could read. So, who knows what will be next at the moment.

Either way, have a great day.

My appologies

2011-12-29T00:37:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to make a post recently, however, things have gotten my head in a spin. I have several topics that I wish to cover. Yet, I find myself unable to put them down. It isn't that I don't have time, it is more an inability to focus. Life continues to hit me on the side of the head. I had many hours in which to compose, but emotionally and mentally I didn't have it within myself. Maybe you can consider it a mild case of depression.

Shortly after publishing my previous post about life events I found out that my grandmother was in the hospital. A lot of my thoughts were dedicated to her and hoping that she would get out. She lives a little over a hundred kilometres away and a made the trip out to visit her. Her husband, my grandfather, died a few years ago. I remember hearing about his hospitalization very clearly. I had been taking a summer class at the time and made the trip out to visit him right after a test. I heard about his passing away shortly after.

Death is never easy for an atheist. There is no illusion of an afterlife. We only have the hear and now. That is why, it is even more important to ensure that we do our best to express ourselves to those we love and care for. There is no second chance. It likely wont matter for the dead, death is, strangely about the living. Those who have to live on with memories and regrets.

I made the trip out to visit my grandmother, breaking a few traffic laws, I am not supposed to listen to music while I travel, nor am I supposed to travel after dark, well, I am not willing to miss the chance. Luckily, she wasn't in the worst shape, but she wasn't released quickly. To the best of my knowledge she is still in the hospital. My family broke her out a few days ago to bring her to an aunt's house for Christmas. I was able to talk to her for a few minutes, calling from work.

Another reason I didn't have much energy, I was working for 72 hours last week, and when I came home, I was all alone. The princess was still staying at her mom's, and and she still is tonight. So, I am alone once again, I don't like being alone.

Back on topic. Death. I hate it. The death of a living thing is a depressing thought. Even for a creature as small as a worm. I would like to say that we, as a species, are ready to move beyond, but, I can't claim that. I eat meat as much as most people do. That is, most people living in a first world country.

We don't know what happens after death. If you look at most religious belief, the claims are either vague, or insane. You don't rule over a planet, like the Mormons claim. You don't go to some describe place as most Christian denominations, and their bible, describe. No land of milk and honey. We don't even have proof that a soul exists to substantiate reincarnation for Hindu and Buddhist sects. All we know is, that your mortal body dies, and once the brain is dead, you don't come back.

So, the funerals and grieving is mostly for the living. To try and get past the pain and loss, the regrets. I don't want to have those regrets, so I did my best to express myself. I don't know if my grandmother, after her physical body will pass, will have something that carries on, beyond that which she has influenced in this world. I wish she did, but so far, no evidence to suggest otherwise. Either way, I am greatly connected to the being that she is. I love her, she has influenced me greatly, and I want to be with her and ensure that she knows this. So, I do what I can. I don't hide my emotions, beyond my fear, and remind her that I care for her.

Her birthday recently passed, and I made sure to travel out to see her, the princess came with me. It was enjoyable, but short.

My grandmother is the last of my grandparents, which adds some importance to her. My father's father passed away when I was around 11 or 12. I didn't make it to his funeral. I remember some emotional turmoil,,but it wasn't well developed or focused. He lived to around 84 and I do miss him. I remember him driving me to kindergarten. My mother's father was the second to go. He passed away when he was in his 70s. I don't know what shape he was in. He was the one whom I was informed of his hospitalization while in class. It was depressing, but at least I made it out to visit him. My father's mother passed while I was in Japan. It was tough, but I had written a letter to her while I was over there and was told that it was found open in her bedroom. I think she read it. I found out on my weekend, and had to teach classes two days later.

It was difficult, but I held a small, ritual if you will, to help with the grieving.I worote a letter to her, found a small river and burned the letter, letting the ashes fall in the stream. I don't know where the inspiration came from. But it helped purge the emotions. I don't know if there is an afterlife, likely not. But,I had to work through the emotions.

I don't know how much longer my grandmother has to live. I hope to celebrate her next birthday. But, either way, I plan to celebrate every day I have the chance to visit her. Life is tough, we, as a species, have conquered much, but, we still are powerless against the natural forces of this universe. We don't have a long time to live, and a shorter time to share with specific people. So, make the best of your time here and celebrate life.

Bill C-10 Alternatives

2011-12-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

The Harper Government continues its wish to push Bill C-10 through government. It is currently going for second reading in the Senate. Honestly, it is a horrendous bill that will just cause more people to go to prison, who really shouldn't be there. To think about sending someone to prison for smoke marijuana or passing a joint to a friend being called trafficking. That isn't even the worst parts of the bill. I recommend reading these three to get you started. 1, 2, 3.

In short, the bill is designed to make more minimum sentences or more crimes, many of which I hardly consider crimes. Most are "moral" crimes, such as something stupid as bestiality, gross as it is, do we really need to put someone in prison for it? Each additional person going to prison costs roughly $100,000/year. Beyond the ideological difference and the lack of science backing up the idea of increasing prison time for non-crimes, the money alone should have Harper and his goons looking for alternatives to their policy. These are the guys trying to cut a huge debt. Each person they can avoid putting in jail and find a cheaper alternative to dealing with them the better.

So, the best way to avoid getting people into prisons would be to look at the root cause, "More than 70 percent of those who enter federal prisons are high-school drop-outs; 70 percent have unstable job histories; four out of five have substance-abuse problems when they are convicted; and two out of three youth in the criminal justice system have been diagnosed with two or more mental health problems." Once you know where the vast majority of those who enter the criminal justice system, we know where to direct our energies.

I strongly suggest that instead of sending someone to jail for having sex with their dog/sheep or something else, if you really want to deal with the person, maybe pay for counseling, so the person can keep their job and paying taxes and take the money saved and put it into areas that are important: youth programs, education, adult education, health care and mental health care.

Edit: just to give you an idea, to support 1 child for an entire year at the Boys and Girls Club, which provides after school care during the school year and daycare during the holidays it only costs $1000. The cost difference is significant. Crime prevention is a much better way to spend out money than making stiffer penalties as tougher sentences has not been proven to deter people while rehabilitation and prevention are significantly more likely to do so.

Life Update

2011-12-15T20:53:00.000-08:00

I do my best to try and post on here regularly. Actually, that is a lie. I enjoy posting on here regularly, but life often gets in the way and when I am tired and haven't had a chance to keep up with the news I don't have much meaningful to write about.

Tonight is a very rare thing. I often post my opinions on politics and religion. Also, a few other things, such as language and so forth. If you read the description of this blog, you will notice that I leave the topics open to pretty much everything. I do my best to keep my personal life out of the topics, but this post was actually request by my dear lady friend, someone whom I love and respect. She asked me to post something about her. If you are a regular reader of this blog, she is the person who often distracts me from writing in it. That, and my work shifting to day shift.

So, it is time for a dose of life. Life has been rough recently. My lovely lady, who I shall refer to as the princess (her nickname, inspired partially by Carl Sagan is Star Princess), has been having it rough for awhile. She had been fighting with her school, who we think one of the staff had a personal vendetta against her, and on top of that she has 4 herniated disks in her lower back (from an old car accident). She finally passed school and got her diploma, in nursing, and had just started a part-time job. I had planned for a great overnight trip at a beautiful lodge with a couple's massage as a gift to celebrate her graduation and our one year anniversary (which was in October, but had to be re-scheduled twice due to her stupid school) yet last week we both where hit with medical problems.

Last Wednesday I woke up with a sore foot, not too uncommon, but it grew worse as the day went on, but manageable. By night though, the princess had some bad stomach aches. I worried that it might have been caused by food poisoning by the dinner I had made, Chicken cordon blu, but I remembered she had eaten lunch from a hot dog vender, to which I had gained food poisoning in the past, so we wrote it off as that. The food poisoning didn't let up the next day, and I was stuck at work. I did some research and came down to 3 possible conclusions appendicitis, stones or really bad gas build-up. I suggested going to the doctor, but the princess and her mom wanted to try laxatives to see if it was constipation.

Friday came about, my foot was getting rather bad, I was limping a lot at work, but luckily I had a coworker returning from extended leave to help out. The princess was now going to the clinic, finally, because her pain hadn't let up. We had both slept horribly that night. I was up until 1am in pain, and had to wake up at 5. I don't know when she finally fell asleep. She kept me updated by text message. I told her that I would try to get off work early to visit her (normally I do 12 hour shifts). 1PM came around and my coworker who had just returned went to talk to our manager and then started to pack up their stuff. Looks like their own medical conditions got in the way. I got a message from my princess at 3PM saying she was going to the ER, the clinic thinks it might be her appendix. I inform my manager to give him warning, I still had one sick day for the year, I save them for emergencies (and I only had 2 to begin with).

A few hours later, while suffering and exhausted at work, I finally get a message back, the CT scan confirmed appendicitis, and they will need to do surgery. Luckily, it hadn't ruptured. I make sure my manager knows and arrange cover for the following day. I am taking a sick day. After work I make a quick trip by home and then it is off to the hospital. I spend the night there keeping my princess company, watching her as she sleeps, reading the first book of The Hunger Games, and helping her out. I stay until about 06:30am and catch a taxi home. I sleep for several hours and then head back to the hospital that night. I try and get a few hours of sleep during the night, though at one point I make a trip, by foot, to a grocery store for pudding and jello.

Sunday morning comes and I take a taxi home, get cleaned up and head to work. Work is horribly boring, but I do get caught up on my podcasts. After work I head home to attempt to get a copy of one of my princess's favorite shows, but to no avail. Luckily, she is rather tired and I believe we catch some of Charlie and the Chocolate factory (or maybe that was another night). Monday morning comes and I head home and pass out. I get a message when I wake up that she will be released sometime today so I do my best to get cleaned up and go hunting for a tray before she arrives. I wanted to buy a tray for bed so she can eat in it and use it to work on her computer without aggravating her wound. I start by searching some stores but ultimately find something acceptable at Walmart. Though, with three stores failing my foot didn't like the trip. I was supposed to do volunteer work Monday afternoon, but had to call in and reschedule. Oh, and that great trip was also cancelled, which was sad because my princess was looking forward to it very much.

It has been a rough week. I have done what I could to take care of the lady I love, but reality gets in the way sometimes. I can claim to be master of my body, but must face its limitations. I can't stay awake for more than 24 hours without penalty, though I still am young and strong enough to go for that long. My foot, which was diagnosed yesterday with tendinitis or plantar fasciitis is rather limiting. I am a stubborn fool who doesn't mind suffering for those he loves, but I must give in to my body's capabilities. Though, to be fair, I didn't know if I had fractured something. I am happy to say that I was able to make up for my lost volunteer hours and also have a kickass cane. It folds up so I can easily take it with me on my motorcycle.

My princess is staying with her mother now, for the next couple of days. After the first night my she didn't want to cause me any more pain with my foot, which is why I went to the clinic yesterday just to make sure it wasn't broken. It is healing now and feeling better. Between lots of ice, stretching, anti-inflammatory drugs, slippers and my cane, it is feeling better. They say it can take up to 6 months to heal, but I am a stubborn, ego-maniac, so who knows. I might keep you posted.

So, I am still around. Anyone who wants to leave encouraging messages for my princess, please do. She reads this blog more than I do ;) I will do my best to update it more. I do have a lot of work over the next few weeks and lots of weekends to which I will be all alone and have nothing better to do than read, study, and write. If you have any topic requests please ask.

So long, take care, and happy...whatever holiday you celebrate.

The Catholic Church as a Standard for Morality

2011-12-02T16:43:00.000-08:00

It has been much too long since I shared some of the wisdom of one of my best friends, Bennie. He sure knows how to make you feel ashamed. He wanted to express his disapproval at how non-Catholic institutions have been operating and that it is the Catholic Church that should be the standard for which "other institutions" should aim at for preventing and reporting sex abuse.

“It is my hope that the church’s conscientious efforts to confront this reality will help the broader community” to understand and respond to sex abuse, [Bennie] said.

Man, Bennie sure knows how to put people in their place. If only society acted like the Church did. The hospitals wouldn't be without funds. Nope, they would make a nice amount of money on the side when they faked the death of children and sold off the newborns to parents who could raise them 'properly'.

Oh, and public schools could retain their expert teachers without fear of losing them when they are caught sexually abusing students under their care. Just threaten the students into silence and move the teacher to a new school district. And a company like Google is set, they can just transfer staff who have been causing too many abuse cases with their subordinates to other locals, like China.

At least the United States Government is following lead with some of the Catholic teachings. They protect war criminals within their organization from being prosecuted.

Don't worry, Bennie didn't forget to honor those who have been doing such a great job with being icons of service to humanity. He "praised the bishops’ ”honest efforts” at protecting children against sex abuse, and dealing “appropriately and transparently with allegations as they arise.”"

Podcasts!

2011-12-01T07:03:00.000-08:00

If you aren't the podcast listening kind of cat, this post likely wont interest you. However, if you do enjoy a good podcast, while driving, sitting on the bus, doing house work or endless mountains of paperwork, like me, then here is a selection of some of my favorite podcasts.

There are several podcasts that I listen to weekly (or bi-weekly depending on their release schedule). They all fall into the atheist, skeptic, science categories.

The Skeptics Guide to the Universe
This awesome podcast has been going strong for... 6 years now. Released weekly, the regular panel of hosts discuss news in science and skepticism, with endless amounts of humorous banter. They have a wide breadth of knowledge, but do make mistakes, and do the right thing and make corrections when that is the case. The shows also have a wide variety of guests, from at least one former President of the United States to people of great renown such as Bill Nye the Science Guy. I highly recommend this show to anyone who has an inner geek. It is awesome.

Radio Freethinker

Working through the science and skeptic podcasts, this is likely the first podcast I listened to, and have almost listened to all the back episodes. It is a local radioshow made podcast. It is a lot of fun to listen to and similar to Skeptics Guide to the Universe, though maybe don't tell them that. The hosts change slightly over the course of the show but always remain strong.

Skeptics with a K

Skeptics with a K, is a podcast put on by three guys, Mike, Marsh and Colin from the Merseyside Skeptics Society. It is a bi-weekly show that covers skeptic news, with lots of tangents and lots of fun. Also, you get some of that British humour. I highly recommend this show. Sadly, the parts with the Big Book of Fantastic Facts has run out. I wonder if they will continue if we can track down another edition.

A few more Skeptic/Science Podcasts that I enjoy but don't listen to regularly are:

Skeptoid

Skeptoid is a solid topical show. The host Brian Dunning takes one topic and gives a short overview of the topic. The shows are very well researched and if you just want a quick look at something you have it. Also, the list of references available in the transcript make further research into something quick and accessible.

Star Talk Radio

Star Talk Radio is a radio show, released online as well, by Neil deGrasse Tyson. It normally has a set topic but likes to fly around a lot. The topics are generally science or geek based, like Star Trek, Dr. Who ("Time Lords: The Science of Keeping Time") or the Big Bang Theory (TV Show). Currently on season 2, episode 38, it has a good back catalog of shows and is released bi-weekly, I think.

Skeptically Speaking

Skeptically Speaking is a radio/podcast out of Edmonton. I haven't listened to many episodes but they are much more focused than a lot of the other podcasts, except Skeptoid. Very good quality work, I keep meaning to listen to more.

Okay, time for the atheist fun.

The Good Atheist

The Good Atheist has a blog with a weekly podcast, plus a bonus show for members ($20/year). The show release schedule is not the most regular, and the content quality jump from entertaining, to solid, to great. There is also a large diversity in the length of the show. Shortest about 30 minutes, averaging an hour, to as long as 2 hours for big interviews. The topics are almost completely religious focuses, in some way... sometimes it is a stretch. Over the course of the show the hosts, particularly Jacob, have become a lot more focused on accuracy and research. This can be seen in his extensive notes, linked in the shows under lyrics if you download. However, due to the style of the show, it has the feel of a talk over beers, tangents are made and errors creep in. I highly recommend this show if you want a laid back talk with a couple of heathens.

Ask an Atheist

Ask an Atheist, started as a TV show, now a radio call-in show/podcast, is a show out of Seattle, Washington. Normally there are 3 hosts with people, occasionally, calling in. The show's main goal is focused on public awareness of atheists. As in, we exist and we aren't going to eat babies. The topics of the show are diverse but mostly around issues about daily life. One of the best parts of the show is, "Scripture says what?" A fairly recent addition, where they take part of holy scripture, from some holy book, and share the more disturbing/humorous parts.

Godless Bitches

Godless Bitches, is a podcast put on by the Atheist Community of Austin, same people who do the Atheist Experience. The show focuses on "feminist issues from a secular perspective". I was very happy when this show started, as female voices, I noticed, were lacking in my listening content. The show normally has three-four hosts and cover topics that are often less looked into, such as the Quiverfull movement. Currently at 12 episodes and each one is a great listen.

Living After Faith

Living After Faith is a podcast that deals with the issues of leaving religion. It is a very emotionally heavy show as people tell their stories of troubles they had while leaving religion. The story of the host Rich, a former minister, is particularly moving.

There are lots more that I have listened to, if you want more suggestions please ask. I find these shows are always high quality and a great listen. Have a great day!

Koran Curious

2011-11-30T14:37:00.001-08:00

I have recently been reading a wonderful book called Koran Curious. Why is it so wonderful? Well, if you remember, last year, about this time, I was reading the Koran. I went into it knowing only a few general things, it was written/compiled about 200 years after the death of the last prophet of Islam, Mohammed, it is considered the primary holy text of Islam, and it is highly connected to the Jewish and Christian holy books. As such, I wasn't taking much of the contextual aspects of the book into account. It wasn't intentional that I was ignoring the context, however, in retrospect, I still would have done so. The initial reading was to take the book as a book of moral authority. What in it could stand the test of time? What in it was meaningful and should be used to educate people? Does it look like something divinely inspired? All accounts of that come up, to me, as no. In fact, I still stand by my claim that the book's morals are somewhere between the old and new testament of the Bible.

Now comes Koran Curious. This book is divided into two main parts. The first 1/5-1/4 of the book is a description of the historical figure that is Mohammad. Unlike many of the characters in the Bible, Jesus, Moses, Abraham and so forth, we have historical records of Mohammad. During the first part of the book we learn about his childhood and rise to religious/cult leader (depending on who you talked to at the time). It is rather fascinating and he would make a great character in any epic.

What is also important is how we find some of modern practices of Islam adapted from the previous pagan Arab religions that preceded it. Such as Ramadan, Mecca being the primary holy city as well as the Kaaba. It also shows how Mohammad learned of the Torah and the stories from the Jewish and Christian religions.

The history covered is short, quick, and engaging. It also humanizes the history behind the religion greatly. For that alone I think it is a great read. I haven't read Karan Armstrong's Islam: A Short History, so I don't know how that compares. The second part of the book is just as fun.

When you read the Koran, unlike the Bible, one thing about it is how often it repeats itself. Not only repeats, sometimes you get the story restated. The only thing similar is the Gospels. But much of the Koran is not narrative. The Surah's are placed generally, in order of longest to shortest. There is no chronology as to when they were spoken (remember, they weren't written down for about 200 years). It can be rather confusing and repetitive to say the least. The second part of Koran Curious goes through many of the Surah's, placing them into context. It starts with giving a time frame and context as to when the Surah was expected to have been spoken, as well as, as summary. Then it will go through choice passages and add points to it, such as pointing out parts that were unique or talking about something that was relevant to when the Surah was spoken.

One great example is that you find a swing between acceptance/tolerance of people of the book (Jewish and Christian people) and vilification. This is explained well when you take a look at the relationship between Mohammad and the groups of Jewish and Christian residents of Medina when he was working on expanding his control. One group of Jews in the area, in particular, were working against him and with Mohammad's enemies in Mecca.

So, if you are looking for a brief history of Islam and an understanding of the Koran as a historical piece of literature, I highly recommend this book. It isn't very long, and generally a good read. It makes you appreciate the book more, just not as a guide for life in any way. It is, without question, a product of its time, but a meaningful piece of literature that has had great impact on the history of mankind.

Cats and Dogs Living Together!

2011-10-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, that isn't exactly an accurate portrayal of what I have just learned. I was listening to the most recent episode of Radio Freethinker and one of the hosts mentioned something rather bizarre. She said that there were people who were marrying fictional characters. So, I had to see if this comment had any basis in reality. Well, I found at least two cases that might have inspired this comment and both are rather shocking.

In reverse chronological order: In 2010 a Korean man, who loves his cute girlfriend very much married her in a ceremony, priest and all. His girlfriend, happens to be a pillow.

'He is completely obsessed with this pillow and takes it everywhere,' said one friend.

'They go out to the park or the funfair where it will go on all the rides with him. Then when he goes out to eat he takes it with him and it gets its own seat and its own meal,'

Now, we shall step that one up by one notch. Back in 2009, a Japanese man, married his virtual girlfriend. By virtual, I mean a character in an interactive dating sim. To do this, he had to go to Guam, where I guess you can marry anything. He even had a priest conduct the ceremony and streamed it online.

Now, I am a nerd, by no stretch of the imagination am I not, however, I am still surprised by these ones. I can understand obsession over a character, and even joking about doing such a thing, but, I am still surprised that it has happened. I guess it makes them happy...

How can you be a good Christian and be gay?

2011-10-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned before that religion, well, most of the major ones, are very strongly against homosexuality. The major religion, in North America, is very vocal about its opinion. Only a few minority denominations, I find, openly welcome the LGBT community. In doing so, they jump through a lot of hoops in their cherry picking, giving authority of some scripture over others, while the majority of the denominations place priority over other scripture. It isn't hard to pick and choose your way through the Bible and come up with a completely contradictory stance on any social issue. It is a book filled with conflicting opinions and if you study the history behind how it was formed it would make sense that was the case. Well, the best history we can come up with. Many of the books are anonymous, misrepresented, altered and so forth.

There is an interesting article, written by a lady who is dealing with her mixed feelings about being Christian (she came into the faith in her late teens) and dealing with the fact that she is a lesbian. It is truly heart moving, and, yes, it would be easier for her just to give up Christianity, but the emotional connection she has with her faith is strong. I highly recommend reading it.

Oh, and please share your thoughts on the article.

A Secular Ottoman?

2011-10-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

If you haven't read many of my posts, you might not be aware that I have a great interest in history. One of the most interesting empires I find is that of the Ottoman empire. A recent paper has released some aspects of this empire that I was completely unaware of.

According to a recent paper published by Faith Matters shows that the Ottoman empire during the 18th and 19th centuries started to secularize. This part I was aware of; however, the state went beyond secular schooling by opening education to women in public schools and even legalizing homosexuality.

The paper tries to show how the Ottoman empire, often heralded as the greatest Islamic empire, was much more lenient and inclusive, than what many of the fundamentalist rules are taking things, which is pretty much every country that is dominated by an Islamic government, even Turkey. At least, that is how I am taking it.

I haven't read the paper yet, but I will try to get a copy and sit down and read it. For an article summary and a link to the paper check out the Guardian here.

Undies in Mormon Land

2011-10-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

I don't know how I missed this event. However, it seems about two weeks ago there was an Undie Run in Salt Lake City, Utah... the center of the Mormon religion. The event was to protest the uptight views of religion and shock people a bit. Also, it looks like it was a hell of a lot of fun. Take a look. I hope it is an annual event. That place needs to relax a bit.

Link here

International Blasphemy Rights Day 2011

2011-09-30T21:29:00.001-07:00

In honor of International Blasphemy Rights Day, I shall share with you some of my favorite quotes (I can't promise that they are attributed to the right people, I just like the quotes).

"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." - George Washington

"What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist” - Salman Rushdie

"It's fair to say that the Bible contains equal amounts of fact, history, and pizza.” - Penn Jillette

"I’m tired of people calling me a devil worshipper. It’s kind of pointless you know. Because if the Devil did exist, he’d be worshipping me, because I’m more successful than he is.” - Marilyn Manson

“If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane.” - Robert Green Ingersoll

“My objection to Christianity is that it is infinitely cruel, infinitely selfish, and I might add infinitely absurd” - Robert Green Ingersoll

“Religion has convinced people that there's an invisible man ... living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn't want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money.” - George Carlin

"One man's blasphemy doesn't override other people's free-speech rights, their freedom to publish, freedom of thought." - Dan Savage

"Nothing fails like prayer" - Annie Laurie Gaylor

"The whole tone of Church teaching in regard to women is, to the last degree, contemptuous and degrading" -Elizabeth Cady Stanton

"It is impossible to exaggerate the evil work theology has done in the world." - Lydia Maria Child

"The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by God one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity." - Carl Sagan

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." - Thomas Paine

"“So that, in effect, religion, which should most distiguish us from beasts, and ought most peculiarly to elevate us, as rational creatures, above brutes, is that wherein men often appear most irrational and mere senseless than beasts themselves” - John Locke

"[Mother Teresa] was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction." - Christopher Hitchens

“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.” - Christopher Hitchens

"How do you show faith is a good thing... without evidence?" - Matt Dillahunty

"Don't run on automatic." - Keight Fahr BionicDance

"We have one life to live and one planet to share. There are innumerable challenges that we must overcome for all life, human and non-human alike, to share this planet and prosper. It is more productive and meaningful to attend to that which we know is here and can demonstrate results in a universe that is complex, wondrous and beautiful, than to focus on a universe that you can only imagine and hold onto with blind faith?" - Dale

I hope you have a great and wonderful life, keep thinking.

How to define religion?

2011-09-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

I have heard that many people, when they get into a debate about atheism with someone who is defensive of religious belief, hear a statement along the lines of, "Atheism is just another religion". I personally haven't heard this statement and I could only assume that it comes from a lack of understanding in the meaning of the terms atheist/atheism, like this poor fellow.

If you want a good explanation regarding what an atheist is, it is rather short and simple: "a person who does not believe in God or gods". The definition is rather simplistic enough that it can, and is, used to refer to everyone if you are talking about various gods. As is pointed out, "most people are atheistic towards Zeus". Positive, Gnostic or Strong atheism are used to distinguish those who make a strong case that there is/are no god/gods at all. I am not talking about those as that is a philosophical well I don't wish to jump into.

Now, as I said, I haven't heard the claim before in conversation, but if we say, have some fun and poke into convervapedia in their article on religion.

Formal definition: "The service and worship of God or the supernatural;"[1] Under this definition, atheism, agnosticism, and secular humanism are not "religions." [2].
Functional definition: "A cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith"[3] By this definition, non-theistic belief systems such as atheism, humanism, and agnosticism could be considered religions. Indeed, the Supreme Court of the United States of America has acknowledged that "religion" does not need to include a belief in a god or gods, and included Secular Humanism as an example of a non-theistic religion.[4][5]

I find the Formal definition to be lacking as not every religion I find worships things. The second one I think is rather strange as not everyone holds beliefs on faith, such as atheism. As the definition says, there is no belief just not accepting a proposition (regardless of the reasoning), it makes no claims. Agnosticism also just simply says, "I don't/can't know" or as Robert Green Ingersoll said, "I don't know and neither do you." Humanism, usually frowns on faith, but that one can be debated, but not in the aim of this post.

I am more curious in finding a good definition of Religion. It is something I haven't found a concise, accurate definition of. For some fun, I am going to look at some of the definitions found in Urban Dictionary:

Currently, the highest ranked definition is:

The biggest lie in human history. It has been responsible for more deaths throughout human history than all other unnatural causes combined. For a thousand years the Church was a tyrannical dictatorship that used religion to control the uneducated masses. Free your minds and come into the 21st century

Though, I find some glee in reading the first sentence, it is rather inaccurate in some things and very Eurocentric. In many countries you still have strong religious control of laws and government. Lets look at the second:

A cult that dosn't end with suicide.

Also makes me laugh, but no, still not accurate as the operational definitions of cults are different, though many religions did start in what were referred to as cults, Mormonism's origins for example started there and some modern Mormon groups still fall under that. Finally, the third one, a bit longer:

A sociological institution that's true purpose is to protect the family structure (by alienating homosexuals) through guilt, self-doubt and fear by spouting the dogma of a man-made God in order to increase the reproductive rate of pre-industrial or medieval civilizations, which in turn increases a species overall chance of survival.

Up until about two hundred years ago religion was needed in order to keep high birth rates and control the masses; however today, religion is used as a tool to make war, confuse and psychologically damage people and promote hatred towards diversity
Religion ruined my life and turned me against blacks, jews and gays.

Though, still very much an Abrahamic definition and I don't agree with the focus on family-structure and not on cultural/societal control, faith and supernatural. But ya, interesting, especially the final part.

Now, lets get away from insane/biased definitions and go to a slightly less biased definition found at dictionary.com

religion (rɪˈlɪdʒən)

— n
1. belief in, worship of, or obedience to a supernatural power or powers considered to be divine or to have control of human destiny
2. any formal or institutionalized expression of such belief: the Christian religion
3. the attitude and feeling of one who believes in a transcendent controlling power or powers
4. chiefly RC Church the way of life determined by the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience entered upon by monks, friars, and nuns: to enter religion
5. something of overwhelming importance to a person: football is his religion
6. archaic
a. the practice of sacred ritual observances
b. sacred rites and ceremonies:

The first definition is not bad, and the third is also pretty good, though maybe closer to just believing in supernatural or spiritual powers. What do you think? Do you have a definition of religion that you prefer that is concise?

Blasphemy Day 2011 tomorrow!

2011-09-29T19:54:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is International Blasphemy Day! I hope you are all ready. Just to throw some fuel on the fire I shall once again visit my good friend the Pope!

In a gathering in Germany we have the bigot attacking gay equality and women's rights.

Secondly, I normally am a bit lighter on Buddhism, but when it comes up it should be pointed out that whenever you put too much stock in faith and let it rule your senses over the real world it can cause atrocious things, such as killing your child... I don't have the stomach to go into the details, please read Vick's covering of the story.

Oh, and speaking of Women's rights, the Canadian government, the Conservative party that is, is going to once again showing their sexist, misogynistic, ignorant, jerk tendencies. Please remember that we have to be vigilant and protect the rights of the citizens of this country.

Censorship in Bangladesh

2011-09-12T21:12:00.001-07:00

I don't know much about the country of Bangladesh. What I know mostly comes from stories set many hundreds of years ago. What I know now... it is located next to India. They claim to have a democracy, but that is completely out the window now. A very short summary:

Ministry of Information in Bangladesh has recently approved a new law for television channels in the country, which will obstruct all foreign movie channels such as Star Movie, Z Movie, HBO, Warner Brothers, Star Gold, AXN etc from being shown on Bangladeshi cable network, as the law strictly bans showing "any kiss scene" in any of the program contents. Totally ignoring the rights of the religious minorities, this new law stops all television channels in Bangladesh in broadcasting any "promotional" or "advertisement" on Christmas, Buddha Purnima [Buddhist Moonlight Night] and Puja [Hindu festival]. The law says "pre-approval should be taken from the Ministry of Information prior to broadcasting any publicity materials on Puja, Christmas, and Buddha Purnima etc."

Don't forget, doing ANYTHING that questions the ruling governing body or promoting any other political party is out the window. Please, take a look through the rules and I am sure you will get an idea about what is happening. I wonder if the country has access to the internet. I think the government is trying to take its cues from China, but they are going even beyond what they restrict. Seriously, kissing? Fuck, I hope someone smacks down that government quickly. Maybe I will aim my blasphemy post at the ruling government of Bangladesh.

Blasphemy Day is Coming Soon!

2011-09-12T17:19:00.001-07:00

That is right, International Blasphemy Rights Day is coming again. It will take place on September 30, 2011. I hope everyone will participate. Express your freedom of expression and don't feel restricted to say whatever you like.

Why have a day to express freedom of speech? Please look at my previous post for last year's Blasphemy Day.

I would also like to bring your attention to the Cartoonist in Syria who was attacked for political cartoons. Blasphemy Day isn't just about expressions that go against religion, but against all controversial conversations.

I look forward to you expressing yourself in whatever way you like, just don't let yourself be censored by others.

Helping Out in Vancouver part 2

2011-09-11T19:38:00.001-07:00

I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything. I have been doing some research into getting together a group of Atheists, Humanists and generally anyone who wants to fly under our lovely banner... do we have one? in doing some volunteer work to help the homeless in Vancouver.

I wasn't expecting a great amount of organization in how resources were dealt out. It is fractured to say the least. I am not overly surprised. But, I wanted to work with the resources that already existed and the structure that was in place. Still, there are a large number of religious groups that are set up, but I have found some non-religious groups.

I was looking at a couple of the food banks in the area, but most of those are aimed primarily at low-income families. Those using the bank need government issued ID with a current address... that doesn't help those with no address.

Eventually, I found an organization that actually listed a large number of local resources, so I thought at least they would know where I should go, if they couldn't use the help of us atheists already. So, at this time I have sent them an e-mail and we will see what happens.

Vancouver Atheist's Helping Out?

2011-08-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

Inspired by several other atheists groups banding together for charity causes, I have decided that we can do it too. So, I am working on trying to put together a few causes that could use some help and seeing what we can accomplish. Like many of my fellow Humanists, I already volunteer individually with a few things, from working with kids to occasionally giving blood (I hate needles, but sometimes I can bring myself to do it).

Currently I know of only a few things that have been organized, we have the Vancouver Pride Parade, donating blood and raising money for the Relay for Life. They have actually finished their second group blood donation!

These are all great causes, but I am thinking about more community involvement is needed. So, I have been working on trying to find something that I can help organize and am working on a few ideas. There is the possibly of organizing donation drives, but this doesn't work as well with community interaction.

A group down in Austin, Atheists Helping the Homeless, have a great program that they have been running for almost 2 years now which I find awesome. I don't know if it can be emulated in Vancouver as much, but you never know. I haven't been able to find out how the groups in Vancouver go about distributing things, such as blankets and such. They might be more based around buildings and structures.

Based upon the statistics I have found, the number of homeless versus shelters available has been decreasing, but still, there are over 700 people greater than the shelters can accommodate. The numbers are also a bit misleading I think. Still, even if there are shelters, that doesn't remove the fact that we have around 3000 people who are without a house/apartment/home. Furthermore, the number of homeless youth (unaccompanied and under 25) in Vancouver has been increasing. In 2008 they counted 270 youth, in 2011 the number had risen up to 349.

I still don't have a plan as to what could be done or organized, I don't think a single act/day is going to change anything. But, as a Humanist, I think this could be a very important issue to work on. Any feedback or ideas would be great. If this is the issue I can rally a group of Vancouver Atheists/Humanists behind the goal is to start it on October 10th, since it is World Homeless Day.

Thank you for your time :)

Quran and the Book of Mormon

2011-08-21T16:18:00.001-07:00

I have been reading the recent edition of Skeptic Magazine (Vol 16, No 3.) which features several great articles on Islam. The most interesting one that I have found is in regards to the influences within the Quran and where the stories likely came from.

I have only read the Quran once in entirety, you can find my comments about some parts of the book on this blog. It was very obvious that the book had a lot of influence from Judaic stories as well as Christian. However, the stories were re-told with some small changes in them. I noticed many of the changes myself, like not killing all the first borns of Egypt and not killing off a few thousand people with the Golden Calf story. You also have Satan more prominently, coming from Christianity.

The article, by Tim Callahan, in the magazine goes into great detail examining the influences from Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. He shoes how the stories that are told, and raised to religious dogma, were taken from existing stories that were easily accessible at the time from other religions and folk tales. It is a really good article and I highly recommend it.

Like the Quran, I recently learned that the Book of Mormon added onto Christianity in a very similar fashion. It tried to explain the origins of the First Nations and used, what was at the time, a fairly common story that they were descendants of Isrealites. When I had first heard the story I thought it was insane, but, that was me looking at it from a modern standpoint and it seems that the belief was not as outlandish more than 150 years ago.

If anyone has more information regarding the sources of these myths, please share them here. I would love to know more about where these ideas came about.

Pride 2011

2011-07-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

I once again participated in the Vancouver Pride Parade, with the BC Humanist Association and CFI. It was one hell of a show.

Unlike last year I slept the night before, not being on night shifts is helping me fit into society more. Also, I brought a bottle of water so I could prevent dehydration. I also had my great pink pleather jacket this year, I got it back from a friend a week or two ago.

Our turnout this year was about twice what we had last year I think. I did a quick head count before we started, around 26 or 27 and at the end I noticed a few people had joined our group during the parade. Always fun to gain more supporters.

Our banners this year were similar to last years. We had the BCHA banner, a CFI one and a new one from CFI which said "Atheist Pride", I really liked it. The "There probably is no God" banner from sfu freethinkers wasn't available this year. I heard something about a staff strike. Though, CFI did bring some handouts that were popular, we almost ran out halfway through... Then there were a few left over, I guess people became too careful.

The crowd was awesome, we had lots of supporters and one person made it all worth while, a young lady screamed "thank you for marching" I couldn't stop smiling after hearing that. We did get a few people call out "yay Jesus" when they saw us and I am told one guy said told one person in our group "I will pray for you". I can't say that overall it was very positive, but no visit from a church group this year.

Speaking of church groups, we were surprisingly placed right infront of a Muslim group and a bit before a Jewish group. Across from us in the lineup, a ways down in the parade was a Unitarian church, with some awesome Bert and Ernie balloons. The only group that I interacted with was the Salaam Canada. They were pretty pleasant and let me take a picture.

Well, I must say, great this year and a look forward to next year. I will add pictures when I get a chance, currently riding the bus home.

Oh, one funny note. One of the commentators came up to me and was "atheists you don't believe in anything do you? What do you believe in?" I was a bit caught off guard and was silent for a moment and when I was about to respond with "love" the commentor pulled the mic away and was like "love and equality?" I just agreed. I failed as a spokesperson. Sorry everyone.

Have a great day.

*edit*

I have added some of the pictures and appropriate links. I hope the formatting is okay.

Congratulations New York!

2011-06-25T01:17:00.001-07:00

Good job New York state for finally joining the rest of us with legalizing gay marriage. It is great to see, I hope the rest of your country soon follows along. I believe that is the sixth state, which would mean more than 10%.

Evolution!

2011-06-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

Today has been a great day. Not only am I working my last night shift, scheduled, for the forseeable future. And my copy of I Sold My Soul on EBay has arrived. But, I read an article today that made me giddy with joy.

We have successfully coxed single cellular life into multi cellular. Does it get much cooler than that? The short form is that the experiements took yeast, generally single cellular and using a daily trip through a centrifuge and manually taking away the "weaker" forms of the organizams. Basically simulating natual selection. They encouraged the development of the single cellular life forms into developing into multi-cellular. They also started reproductive division of labor.

It is really very cool. However, it wasn't the creation of life, but simply single cellular to multi-cellular. I believe life creation has only been able to create amino acids, still awesome.

It's 3am

2011-06-24T03:28:00.000-07:00

Well, to be fair when this is done I don't know what time it will be. Currently, it is 2:56am according to my computer clock. So, let's start there.

I am at work, and my internet is down. So either of the posts that I wanted to write tonight will have to be put off and forgotten. I don't like making posts that reference others without giving references so you can follow up. I will briefly comment on them though. If I get time I will try to find the sources.

The first that I would like to comment on is the reporting of a study that newspapers were touting as "women do have gaydar". The study is horrible in what I found from its premise and the conclusions were even more outrageous.

The study had several groups of women, 4 I believe. The first study had 40 women shown pictures of the faces of men, half were gay and half straight (the men in the pictures), the women that were ovulating got the most correct in selecting gay or straight. The articles didn't say exactly what the significant number of successes was.

The forth test was another group of 40 women were divided into 2 groups. 1 group read a romance novel and the other did not. Then they were tested and those that had read the novels, I am guessing they were short, scored higher.

Now, the conclusions that were drawn from this basically are saying that women who are more interested in looking for a mate can pic out those who are gay easier just by a picture of a guy's face. I am having trouble thinking of some kind of mechanism as I can't think of a facial feature that would give this away.

Now, I also have trouble with the study based on the sheer numbers. It was only 40 women, which is rather small considering the way they are dividing them for the conclusions. In addition it made no mention of controlling for lesbian versus straight women. Just a thought. Though, one of the tests was that they were testing for women detecting gay or lesbian women.

In short, I think the study, though if replicated with a bigger test size, could prove interesting if similar results were found. I would also like to see it done with guys being tested and a large enough size for more controls. Right now, once again, media is failing in over stating the findings in something preliminary at best. I would also like to see some of the raw statistics. If it was like a 70% success rate, that could be meaningful, instead of a 54%.

The second thing I would like to briefly mention was a post on Psychology Today. It was a post arguing that "scientific atheists" are doing things wrong. Firstly, the author asserts that such atheists, such as of coarse Richard Dawkins, are making the claim that no gods exist. Which, if the author bothered to take any effort in knowing who they were writing about would know that is an outright lie. Secondly, the author thinks that the burden of proof lies on the atheists to prove their is no god.

As no atheist, except maybe a small minority that I am aware of, would make the claim stating knowledge that their is no god(s), such a demand is unfounded. Regardless of the impossibility of proving a negative of such a thing, the burden of proof falls on those who make the positive claim. If I claim I saw Bigfoot, the burden falls on me to provide evidence. If I claim that I have the winning lottery ticket, I must prove it to claim the prize.

From those who I have met and talked to and those I whose writings I have read and those whose speeches I have listened to, the vast majority admit that with proper evidence, they would admit to the existence of a god. What such evidence would be needed? God only knows. As a 5000 foot tall Jesus with fire coming out of his eyes only suggests a 5000 foot tall Jesus with fiery eyes exists, or you are hallucinating.

Just like the homeopathy practitioners, or those who claim esp exists, the onus falls on those making the claims. The default should always fall on agnostic skepticism.

Edit:

The article for the gaydar report that I read (there are many others)

The Blog Article "The Scientific Atheism Fallacy"

Revisioning

2011-06-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

I started this blog almost a year ago. I have posted many different posts on a variety of subjects. Each subject had some meaning, at least to me. The greatest fluff is probably my horoscopes, but they were still fun. I don't know exactly how I want this blog to continue. Maybe it will continue more of a current events type thing, maybe it will change. But, I am leaving this post open for criticism, and ideas. If you have something that you wish to be discussed here, please have it said. I might change it more to an educational bent. You wont be able to get rid of my bias, sorry. The areas of interest that I hold most close to my passions are: History, Science, Current Events and Religion. If you wish for topics discussed on any of these items, the more specific the better, please suggest them here or e-mail me at intwaste@gmail.com This blog isn't about to go away, but I thought I would take this moment to offer suggestions. As you might have noticed, my weekly horoscopes did come to a fatal end, if you wish, I am sure I can renew contact with their source and bring them back. I did find them amusing, but the subscription was far to much for me to just gain amusement from. So, as with any topic, please, suggestions or requests are welcome.

I hope, for those who do keep regular tabs, if you have something you like, please ask it, if not I will just... write something.

Canadian 2011 Census

2011-06-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

I have been commenting about the Canadian Census since, well, the "Harper Government" went ahead and decided to butcher it. I had completed the regular census form when I first got it last month, but strangely in my mail yesterday I got a delivery saying that I hadn't filled out my census information. Confused I filled it out this time, luckily my roommate was home, and this time it was the long census form. Previously it was only the short one, something like 10 questions.

I guess I can be slightly happy that the census form wasn't listed as completed before. Now we have more "Nones" counted. I also copied the confirmation number that it was finished.

Horoscopes: June 5 - June 11, 2011

2011-06-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

The delivery system seems to have improved, no real great disruptions, but you can never be so certain. I am still waiting for my space-time sensors to arrive, I believe they were lost in a minor nebula. I really wish the intergalactic postal system was more efficient. You would think they would be quicker, but no, that is what you get with unionized workers. Whoever thought it was a good idea to introduce the idea of equality to androids didn't know what they were getting us into. But without further ado, I know why you are here.

Aquarius (1/20-2/18): The cease fire in the war will be maintained this week so it is time to focus your attention on more pressing matters. You have been devoting yourself too much to this cause and letting other things in your life slip away. You should take this time to get your life into balance, pay your bills and have some time to yourself. Maybe a nice holo-vacation.

Pisces (2/19-3/20): Your selfish ways have gotten the better of you. More precisely, your indulgence in decadence. It is time to start thinking of others and expanding your impact on society. It might be a good time to lend a hand to someone in need. Maybe assist the survivors of the great Potato Wars on Ganta IV. Or, there is always the local blood drive to keep the vampires appeased.

Aries (3/21-4/19): Who knew that the Grunglts liked jokes so much? I guess they really are a mis-understood species. Either way, it is probably a good idea to accept their gifts, without asking what part of the body of what species they come from and just smile and nod until you are out of range of their disruptors.

Taurus (4/20-5/20): So, you have finally tracked down your other half. That is good. Now, how the hell to get yourself back together. Word of advice, needle and thread wont do the trick. You could always try seeing if you can reverse the spell, but that probably means asking for advice from someone who knows about what happened to you. No, it might be better just to try and shove yourselves into some spacial anomaly or other half-baked idea.

Gemini(5/21-6/21): Things are still a little hectic, but some good old fashioned elbow grease is doing the trick, at least at the moment. Still, the temptation of having some extra hands to help out is strong. Please remember that a radio-active spider bite does not promise any such changes to your physiology. You will want to contact a true genetic engineer if you want good results. It costs more, but it has a track record of success. However, the changes are permanent and you don't get a refund or return policy.

Cancer (6/22-7/22): You are going to be facing a shortage of credits this week and you don't have time for normal work to get in the way. So, it looks like you are going to have to place your trust in cosmic synergy to get things done. But, what good is that? No, I think it is time for a visit to the old Chocobo Races. I will give you a tip, I have a good feeling on the green Chocobo in the sixth race.

Leo (7/23-8/22): So, how does that new position fit? Just remember, the increased responsibility also means increased chances of slipping up. I recommend tracking down a fall guy and keeping him close. When your boss is referred to by the title Darth it is always useful to have a scapegoat, or two, kicking around. Don't stick your neck out.

Virgo (8/23-9/22): Great news! You are going to be offered a chance to gain great riches and explore the world. The only hitch is... you have to sneak into a dragon's cave without getting eaten. That isn't asking too much is it?

Libra (9/23-10/22): The sun is out and you have a lot of time on your hands. Well, not too much time, but just enough that you should relax while you have it. By the end of the week that time of yours will disappear as you start to work on your new vision.

Scorpio (10/23-11/21): Your shark wont go hungry this week, but you might want to look into getting some more security for your front gate. Somehow you are going to find yourself plagued by endless visits from door knockers trying to save your soul. They seem to think that you are amoral for some reason. Just because you own a death ray doesn't mean that you are evil, does it?

Sagittarius (11/22-12/21): Your travels are bringing you to a rather pleasant part of the galaxy this week. Well, it used to be pleasant until it became colonized by a very strange bipedal species that strip mined most of the major planetary bodies and even several of the larger asteroids. You might want to avoid some of their more decrepit colonies and stations.

Capricorn (12/22-1/19): Once again you are going to find yourself trying to reclaim the glory of your youth. You really aren't a good international relic hunter, nor are you are good cat burglar. But, my comments wont dissuade you from your foibles will they? So, go and attempt to get that precious artifact that you have been obsessing over for the last few weeks and next week I will be ready to say, "I told you so".

Conservatives are already at it

2011-05-31T02:35:00.000-07:00

I am doing my best on keeping track of the Conservative's destruction of Canada. The first was their Bill C-51. I don't have a problem with most of it besides that statement that linking to hate speech, may possibly make you guilty of committing hate speech, even if you are mocking it. The current wording I have found is "promoting hate speech". I don't see how insulting it and providing a link to the filth is promoting it, but it could be construed that way. The second is regarding aliases. Making any message sent under a "false name" can be considered an offense regardless of the medium. I personally can see this law being stretched to message forums, hence, a nickname on the internet would be illegal.

Today an article, or several actually, caught my attention as it mentioned that the Conservative government wants to alter the current treason laws.

The Conservatives are to consider whether to declare that any Canadian who takes up arms against the military of this country or one of its allies should be automatically stripped of citizenship and be tried for "high treason."

I don't like the statement that they should be "stripped of citizenship". As to do so removes a lot of protection required by the government. I am concerned also that you have to be weary that, sometimes (maybe moreso in the coming years), the government is wrong. I have no problem with someone being tried, but until they are found guilty of a crime they should not be punished. In addition, they should never lose their citizenship. I think they want to add that to make them not responsible for people who might make them look bad when they challenge their allies. "Oh him? He committed treason, he is no longer Canadian." Nope, can't wash your hands clean that way Harper.

Secondly, I want to make sure that everyone is aware of something that the Conservatives wish to discuss:

Definition of marriage: The party's current policy says: "A Conservative government will support legislation defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman." One amendment to be debated would weaken that language by removing the word "government" and replacing it with the phrase: "The Conservative party supports legislation defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman."

Canada is one of the few countries on the planet that recognizes same sex marriage. It is something that I am rather proud of as a Canadian. If, for any reason, the Conservatives try to actually push their agenda on this I will be highly critical and vocal of the matter. The legal reasons alone, let alone the moral, make same sex marriage a vital thing. I have never heard it required anywhere that a specific church has to perform the services. But for the government to try to not recognize it, is disgusting. Please everyone, keep your eyes open.

The world keeps on spinning

2011-05-31T02:08:00.000-07:00

Greetings everyone. I am sure you all have been wondering what happened. Okay, maybe not. I went on vacation last week, or actually a bit longer ago than that. I was learning how to ride a motorcycle, which is rather fun. Even when flipping it, it was fun (which only happened once). I was also sick for pretty much the entire duration of my vacation. The vacation is over and I am back to work doing my normal slaving away. Which means, slightly more regular updates. I also, hopefully, wont be missing out on your weekly horoscopes, as they are completely the most accurate you will find anyway. Or just the best use of your time and mental energy.

Looks like everyone remained on the planet during the rapture. Though, don't worry, for those of you who are skeptical, the rapture did happen. It was just a spiritual rapture. For those of you who haven't heard the fallout, besides those who lost a large amount of money, at least one suicide has been attributed to Camping's doomsday prophesy, and one attempted murder-suicide. I am sure I am missing out on some other events that have happened due to Camping's evangelizing. But, at least he claims that he is correct and on October 21st we will see the physical end of the world. He also says that there is no more need to preach his message as everyone has already been judged. I don't know what happens to those who are born in the next five months...

Horoscopes: May 29-June 4, 2011

2011-05-29T03:09:00.000-07:00

Well, it appears that the space-time bend has finally been restored. However, we did lose last weeks horoscopes completely... Don't worry, that really didn't affect your reality any. Just maybe you missed some minor entertainment. I am happy to say that this week we have successfully managed to receive the horoscopes and they are provided for your enjoyment.

Aquarius (1/20-2/18): The war carries on and you are still pitched between the two sides. You don't want to make a definite choice. The pirates are great fun and always lively to have as part of your life. The ninjas are far more reserved and calm, they offer a guide post for you. You have strong connections with both sides and this conflict is straining your relationships. You might need to take a side or, you can always just slip into a pocket dimension and hide out for a few more weeks.

Pisces (2/19-3/20): Good news! That upset stomach that you had last week, caused by your minor experimenting with exploding food, is calming down. It might be a good idea to take it easy with strange foods. However, that new shipment of space slugs is coming in at your local food dispensary this week. They are awfully tasty when salted and fried up.

Aries (3/21-4/19): All that peace and quiet over the last few weeks has started to put you in a bit of a freeze in your life. Well, it doesn't help when the fact that the peace and quiet is actually caused by your body being placed in stasis for the last week. Lucky for you, you have been freed from the stasis and your sensory receptors are able to actually take in what is around you. Maybe it would have been better if you weren't being held prisoner by the warrior species the Grunglts. What a nasty race with the worst body odor in their quadrant. I bet you wished you were back in stasis.

Taurus (4/20-5/20): Why oh why did you ever split yourself up? After two weeks you are still trying to track down your magically made evil half. To help you out in your search, I will give you a hint. Your other half has decided to start taking over the planet through subtle manipulation of mass media. What better way to do that than by becoming a pop media star and give bad advice?

Gemini(5/21-6/21): The peace and quiet didn't last very long. Things are starting to come apart at the seams and you are going to have trouble holding everything together. This isn't time to try out that new device to do micro-time travel and get things done in one day. We don't want more disruptions in the fabric of space-time at the moment please.

Cancer (6/22-7/22): The next level is a long way away and you need a lot of experience points to reach it. But, you have a lot of time to work on it. Don't be discouraged when you have to fight the boss more than once, sometimes you need to regroup your guild mates and determine a better strategy to take him on.

Leo (7/23-8/22): After a bit of wrestling, your temper is under control. This week shall be a great week for you. Your job prospects are looking up. That big promotion is in view as your superiors' futures are looking questionable and some opening may be coming. It is never a good thing when you fail to keep prisoners imprisoned and the rebels contained.

Virgo (8/23-9/22): After a few weeks of your love life taking on new shapes things are settling down into a regular routine again. Enjoy the stable routine of your relationships while you have it to share.

Libra (9/23-10/22): The dust has settled and the cowboy astronauts who went forth to prevent the asteroids from crashing into the planet failed to prevent the collision. However, they did manage to prevent the rocks from hitting your rivals. They did make some nice new hot springs that could be great in the future. You might want to look into the real estate market.

Scorpio (10/23-11/21): Sometimes you should learn to take advice. Your speech went along far to long and your nemesis managed to escape. True, you did have an awesome set up with lasers and even a shark tank. But, your shark went hungry that day and you laser was cold. Next time you will want to try and think about the constructive criticism.

Sagittarius (11/22-12/21): Danger, Danger, you are approaching the edge of the battle ground between the Ninjas and the Pirates. You might want to swing by the nearby wormhole and hope to pop out in a more quiet sector. It would be a good time to turn that droid of yours that you shoved in the closet after the fiftieth statistic in a row. It will be invaluable when navigating through the wormhole as you don't want to end up being sucked into an alternate dimension, or vaporized into nothing.

Capricorn (12/22-1/19): You and Scorpio never listen to good advice when it is given. Accents should only be used when undercover when you are able to slip up. Not when it is a life and death situation. Now you are stuck in prison awaiting your fate. Good luck in managing to escape and get back to safe ground. Maybe you should stick to your day job. I suggest a simple retail or office job.

Everybody Draw Muhammad Day

2011-05-20T23:44:00.001-07:00

I wish I had time to accentuate Mose's beard, but I didn't. So here you go.

Harold Camping

2011-05-16T04:04:00.001-07:00

I have been laughing, for almost a year, since I heard about the predictions about the May 21, 2011 end of the world being predicted by Harold Camping of Family Radio. It is absurd, the logic being used to make the prediction, is basically non-existent. It is numerology taken at its most insane. However, as the day grows closer, it becomes more depressing to think about. There is no fear that it is really going to happen, hell, the guy was wrong once already. If you want some more realistic end of the world senarios I recommend Phil Plait's Death from the Skies! at least that is grounded in reality.

The problem that I am worried about is for the people who believe in this insanity. We have people selling everything they have to travel around in RVs preaching the end is coming. We have people using their retirement savings to buy billboard ads in subway stations. One family quit their jobs and budgeted the last of their money so it would run out on May 21st. They have a 2 year old child and a second on expected in June. What is going to happen to these people when May 22nd comes around?

I can understand why there is fear of suicide pacts happening. Honestly, the only ways I can see for Camping out of this is to lie, "Our prayers saved the world", make shit up, "I forgot to carry the 2 again", have a convenient heart attack and martyr himself, or admit that he is wrong. I expect that it is going to be one of the first two. However, I am at a loss when thinking about all the deluded people who believe him. Truly, accept what he is saying. What about the children of the parents whose lives are effectively ruined? Will it be that easy to get their jobs back, after you quit claiming the world was going to end? What about the people who have sold their homes or spent the millions of dollars on billboards, newspaper ads, radio ads, and driven around preaching this? Is Camping going to open his wallet (assuming he didn't lead the charge and waste his money, I am pretty confident that he didn't) and help those whose lives he has helped ruin?

It is a depressing situation. I look towards May 22nd with a bit of glee thinking that I can laugh at Camping's prediction, but now I just wonder how all the people who have given up everything because they were mislead.

What is the harm in believing in something that isn't true? This is a good example. True, not every unfounded belief will end up like this, but we should be skeptical of outlandish claims. In this case, as many as 40% of Americans believe that Jesus will return in the next 40 years, so believing that the end will come soon really isn't that outlandish of a belief it seems...

Horoscopes: May 15-21, 2011

2011-05-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

Regrettably this weeks horoscopes arrival was disrupted due to the relativity tests being conducted. A minor bend in the fabric of space-time resulted in their posting being a mere 19 hours late. Do not fear, all horoscopes still maintain the same level of accuracy and affect on your lives.

Aquarius (1/20-2/18): This week you will be caught up in the never ending war between two of the universes great factions. The fight started long ago, no one knows what started the war, but it is suspected that it has something to do with disgraced honor. However, you will finally be forced to take a side: pirate or ninja.

Pisces (2/19-3/20): You have always been well known in your circle for being a bit of a loose cannon. You go off impulsively and are easily distracted. However, this week you will find yourself exploding for a whole new reason. You have discovered the legendary candy of the gods, pop rocks. They will bring you back to your childhood days and the urban legend of the pop rocks and cola mixture.

Aries (3/21-4/19): This week is will strangely peaceful for you. It will start to feel like summer finally, and you will be yearning to take that vacation you have been planning for all these years. You have to remember though, when planning your summer vacation, whatever the temperature is on Earth does not reflect the temperatures on the moons of Jupiter. Though, the interplanetary travel agencies claim it is a "summer sale" you should just save your vacation for off season rates and get a good deal.

Taurus (4/20-5/20): You are going to find yourself torn this week, it will be a fight between your selfish urges and your altruistic side. The battle for domination over your life will be an epic one. This is what happens when you permit yourself to be subjected to strange magical experiments. It might be safer to re-merge yourself into one body and fight it out the classic way with a bottle of scotch and a sympathetic ear.

Gemini(5/21-6/21): This week you are going to be more collected and put together than some of your friends. Enjoy the peace and quiet while you have it. The world doesn't make sense for long and the universe changes even quicker. It might be time to get caught up on some of that reading your have been putting off.

Cancer (6/22-7/22): Great news! You're work has finally come to a front. You will finally get that new level that you have been xp grinding for. The only question is, what new perk do you want to purchase at your new level? The choices are endless... or maybe it is time to multiclass!

Leo (7/23-8/22): Your temper is going to get the best of you this week. You try to brush off all the small little things in life, but they keep piling up and unless you remember that it isn't only one person that is contributing to the pile that is building up in your mind of errors, when you slip it is going to end up going off at the wrong target. Just remember that your minions are how you programmed them after they came off the assembly line. It isn't their fault they don't understand sarcasm.

Virgo (8/23-9/22): Your love life is going to be in a stage of morphing this week. The transition will be shaping in a way that you had not been expecting. However, you may be in luck if you like strong lovers, you can't get better than a lycanthrope.

Libra (9/23-10/22): Your investments in asteroid mining are going to pay off this week. People told you that you were nuts in buying up stray asteroids, what would happen if they collide with another planet? Well, who would have thought that strategically lifting off of a large near Earth space rock would alter its trajectory just enough to send it falling on top of the headquarters of your biggest competitor? No one could have planned that, right?

Scorpio (10/23-11/21): World domination takes time, patients and endless amounts of planning. You have all that, but what you keep forgetting is that you also have to write your endless monologues to taught your enemies with after you capture them. They never told you that during your graduate school work. Well, just to give you a warning, you will finally capture your arch nemesis this week, so have that speech well crafted and planned so you can implement your unnecessarily complicated execution quickly and hopefully he wont escape again this time.

Sagittarius (11/22-12/21): You are going to be entering into a wonderfully scenic part of the universe this week, if there is such a thing. It is untouched by almost every major advanced civilization and has been attempted to be designated protected under intergalactic law several times. However, your android sidekick is going to ruin all the fun with boring facts about it. Maybe it is better just to deactivate the droid for the next week or so. Don't worry, the space pirates are too busy planning an offensive against the ninjas this week to worry about you.

Capricorn (12/22-1/19): Alright, you were foiled last week, but don't give up. You still have a chance to get it back. What you need now is a disguise. Lucky for you down on main street there is a new costume workshop opening up. It might be sufficient. However, avoid those bad accents that you think you are good at. You aren't. You need something more believable. There is no way that you can pass as a stunt driver and you aren't an astronaut. Go for something more believable with just enough of a position to get yourself into that invite only white tie event. It might be your last chance before your plans are ruined for good. You don't want to go back to the drawing board... you remember how boring those endless nights of plotting are.

Credit where it is due

2011-05-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

I bash on organized religion a lot, and some non-organized. The fact is, one of my biggest reasons for criticizing religion is the holding onto outdated moral beliefs and hindering of the advancement of mankind and science. Not to mention being highly divisive and in some cases, maybe many, killing curiosity and replacing the search for answers with "God did it". When a church is willing to step beyond this and show me hope it would be folly of me not to acknowledge and congratulate it, I encourage everyone to do so. Positive reinforcement is a good thing, negative doesn't create as much change.

It is with a great smile on my face that I congratulate Believe Out Loud, "a trans-denominational effort to promote LGBT equality in mainline Protestant congregations", for at least attempting to do some good. They recently created a video that was to air in honor of Mother's Day, in hopes of showing an open door to LGBTs in their churches. To simply, make them feel welcomed.

However, the ad, which is really very inoffensive and simple, was rejected by Sojourners, who they had purchased ad space from, to appear on their website and in their newsletter. If you are like me, you likely don't know who Sojourners is. From what I have learned it is a group of rather progressive protestants. I guess even they are not very progressive. Rev. Chase, who tried to find the reason for the rejection wrote:

I called the folks at Sojourners and asked what the problem was, what the “sides” in question might be. The first response was that Sojourners has not taken a stance on gay marriage (the ad is not about gay marriage); or on ordination of homosexuals (the ad is about welcome, not ordination); that the decision, made by “the folks in executive” (why such a high level decision?) was made quickly because of the Mother’s Day deadline. The rationale kept shifting. The reasoning made no sense.

It is true, the video makes no statement about gay marriage, it doesn't even say that it loves LGBTs. All it says is that they are welcome. That is it, a very simple and kind message. I can only imagine how painful it must be to be in church every week knowing that you aren't welcome there. It is definitely aimed at clergy to lead the way in making positive change.

I have in the past been critical of Christianity and its stance on this issue. As I have said, the Bible is without question, both old and new testament (old just is more blunt) against homosexuality. Though, it actually doesn't mention lesbians (I believe the Catholic ruling is that they don't actually exist... kind of like Iran). But, I must be realistic here. Christianity is the largest religion on the planet. It is the most influential in North America, and any step towards making the world a better place is good. So, with that, I would like to say, the video is a nice start. It should be supported and spread.

Maybe with enough pressure we can make Sojourners relent on their stance.

If you have some time, send an email to the folks at Believe Out Loud and support them, and maybe condemn Sojourners in your own way.

Horoscopes: May 8 - 14, 2011

2011-05-08T00:15:00.000-07:00

Aquarius (1/20-2/18): Sometimes it feels like a week doesn't go by where you are required to save a planet from invasion or a sun about to explode. This week isn't going to be any better. A small planet of a peace loving race is being threatened by an intergalactic corporate entity that wants to abuse them. You are going to have to use some persuasive negotiating tactics. Just be careful, they can be underhanded.

Pisces (2/19-3/20): Your imagination is going wild this week. Sometimes a spell can backfire and you are going to be up for one hell of an accidental curse. Lucid day dreams are not going to come close when your dreams start to come real. Be careful what you wish for.

Aries (3/21-4/19): Don't get ahead of yourself, remember what happened last Christmas. This week you are going to want to push ahead with your clinical trials. Sure, your teleportation device seems to work fine with a chair, but that doesn't mean you should be shoving yourself into it first. There is a set process that you need to follow.

Taurus (4/20-5/20): Getting all worked up when someone calls you "yella" isn't always a good thing. It can get you in trouble, even endanger your well being. This isn't one of those cases. You will know what to let go and embrace your inner animal this week. Sometimes it is important to wolf out.

Gemini(5/21-6/21): People will be acting strange this week. Claiming to see you places you weren't, referencing conversations that you never had, and even making accusations that you did things that you never thought you would be capable of, let alone did. Don't worry, that is a very logical explanation for it all. Your double from another dimension is making a visit this week and forgot to warn you in advance.

Cancer (6/22-7/22): Good news! Or maybe not. It seems that your innate sensitivity to the emotions of those around you is going to start to get even clearer. It might be a good idea to just avoid the people you know. Going outside might not be good at all. This week you are going to be able to tell for sure what people think of your retro style wardrobe, and you wont necessarily like the feedback.

Leo (7/23-8/22): This week people are going to start to show you the respect and honor that you deserve. Maybe it was the kindly worded letter to the editor that has changed people's opinion. Maybe it was the announcement that you gave on national television. Or maybe, it was the orbital death ray that you constructed and provided a demonstration for the world of its awesome power. Whatever it is, things are looking up this week.

Virgo (8/23-9/22): I give you advice every week and you never listen to it. You mind is so closed that you wont even let Cancer in. Well, fine be that way, don't trust what I have to say. Even though I only wanted to tell you that you need to remember to send your mom a Happy Mother's Day card. Oh, and that your keys fell behind your nightstand.

Libra (9/23-10/22): You always like to open your house to a stranger. Your generosity and hospitality are renowned. This week, you might be endangering yourself if you let the strangers stay the night. It is never good to open your house to shady looking strangers during a pull moon on a foggy day.

Scorpio (10/23-11/21): There is a limit to the loyalty you should show your supervisors. When they start saying that it is time to go down with the ship that is a good indicator. When the red lights start flashing and the countdown is ringing, go for the escape pods. Don't stick around for the final monologue.

Sagittarius (11/22-12/21): How is your journey going? Is it time for a break? Nah, didn't think so. Keep it up. Did you get those house elves? Told you they were useful. Just be careful where you keep your socks.

Capricorn (12/22-1/19): Told you to watch out didn't I? Well, don't worry, you still have a chance to reclaim that which is rightfully... well, we we get into the intricacies of international property law another time. Don't give up. You still have a chance while their boat is going to be in international waters to claim what you have come out to... claim.

Loss of Life

2011-05-07T05:03:00.000-07:00

I have been holding off on commenting on this topic, however, it has been on my mind. In the last week two major events have had me thinking much about the future. Neither of them are the royal wedding as I see that as insignificant and I really have no care for monarchies in this modern time. I think they are a waste of money and resources. The two events are the Canadian election, which I am very disappointed with. The second being the killing of Osama bin Laden. How it happened and the reactions of people around the world trouble me greatly. I am happy that many people whose blogs I read have a similar reaction to the event as I do. John Loftus was likely the harshest of the responses. Lissa Rankin at Psychology Today was one of the most thought provoking and grounding writers. One of the most popular bloggers, maybe the most popular in the atheist scene is PZ Myers who is very outspoken at the celebration and the killing.

Killing is never the first option in my mind. People die in war all the time. I am not going to condone war, but I will accept that with war there are losses. This however, was a strategical operation, assassination if you will. That knew exactly where he was and pulled off an operation that targeted him. It is true that this man had openly declared war on many countries, and took credit, and likely did, plan and organize many acts of terrorism. I would even say that there is little doubt that he is guilty of many crimes and instigating and perpetuating many crimes. However, in killing him, he was made a martyr and it meant more dead.

For three very important reasons I would suggest not killing him, but doing everything possible to take him alive. Considering there were no shots fired at the American team that entered, I think it would be been likely to pull off. First, the followers of bin Laden wouldn't have a martyr to rally behind. Second, he could have faced a public trail to dissuade things like the following statement by an Imam:

Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Imam of Jama Masjid, objected to Osama being called a terrorist, "When did any court of law in the world convict Bin Laden of terrorist activities? It is only America's assertion and that of Nato that he was one. Why should we believe them. As for the government of India's reactions, I would want to know their views on what is happening in Palestine even now when thousands of Muslims are being killed by Israel with US help. The killing (of Osama) in a continuation of US interference in Libya, Iraq and Palestine."

He very rightly points out that many Muslims will see the killing of bin Laden as merely a perpetuation of targeted attacks against Muslims. It is very easy to count the times in which "Western" influence can be seen as repressing a people. When you are part of a group, it is hard to look outside your group. You care about your group and are centric to that way of looking. To step out and to try to empathize with the other side is difficult. I try to avoid claiming a side in the Israel-Palestine conflict as it is highly difficult to separate one sides propaganda and arguments against another. I would honestly say they are both being idiots and need to learn to live together in peace. Many of them don't like that. As soon as you can create an US vs. Them mentality it is hard to break out of it. True, bringing bin Laden to court, even at the United Nations would not silence all of his followers. Not all of them would accept the judgment, most likely wouldn't, but it would have been the proper course of action.

Third and finally, it would have prevented the death of a human. I don't, I can't accept the killing unnecessarily of a person even someone who I feel has caused great evil in this world as justifiable when it can be avoided. To kill in self-defense or the defense of another person is one thing, but to strategically attack and kill a person is a horrible choice. In addition to that, they further caused disrespect to the life by dumping it into the sea.

I do not deny having felt, and still feeling, a sense of relief knowing that there is one less person out the plotting and engineering the suffering of people around the world, but it is not something to celebrate. I would rather have seen him brought before an international court. His delusions will likely prevent him from feeling guilt for the crimes that he is responsible for, but when the state acts to kill a person, it puts the blood of that person on all the citizens within that state. A targeted assassination is hardly different than the death penalty being given to a prisoner, the only real difference is, the prisoner (in many countries) has faced a trial.

Religious Tolerance vs. Free Speech

2011-05-07T01:42:00.000-07:00

For years now the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has been pushing through a non-binding agreement at the United Nations to protect religion from criticism. Essentially, they are looking for a United Nations backed blasphemy law. This non-binding agreement was voted for annually, and approved annually up until recently. With the failure of getting laws banning blasphemy passed through the United Nations, another tactic is being used. The OIC is attempting to pass a hate speech law. Canada has a hate speech law, in fact, most countries do. I can only think of the United States as being an exception for "western" countries.

In 2009 the United States co-sponsored a resolution with Egypt which attempted to get a hate-speech bill passed along the lines of, all nations shall "combat any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence." This was a non-binding resolution that was accepted, without vote. However, now the IOC would like to push this resolution into use and encourage the United Nations to actually act on it.

It is not uncommon for the United Nations to been looked at as a tool by religious groups to try and push for "Religious Tolerance", especially not anti-Islam. Iran is calling on the United Nations to stop Islamophobia, this time because of the highly criticized Terry Jones. Tajikistan (the country that is currently the head of the IOC) is asking for the United Nations not the permit a book to be re-published because it has the 12 Danish Cartoons that sparked controversy back in 2005 that resulted in rioting and fatalities.

These are only two out of many events in the last decade alone. I don't even need to go back to the 20th century where we can talk about Salam Rashdie. The IOC is trying to get laws passed that prevent even minor criticism of their religious beliefs. Even a simple cartoon. If they did not notice, the criticism of the actions of Terry Jones stretched to even the president of his country calling his actions wrong. However, in response riots took place, by Muslims, that resulted in the death of non-Muslims. Which crime is greater? Which one should be punished? The burning of paper, books that Jones owned, or the taking of human life? Innocent people who were not connected. If Iran wants to work on protecting people's rights, I think they should be protecting people the innocent from being killed. I am not aware of anyone being charged with the death of those innocents who were attacked in the ensuing riots.

The cartoons that were drawn likewise struck violence causing deaths. These were not deaths caused by the artist. The artist was not the person doing the killing. Once again, those who rioted and killed, how many were arrested and charged?

When Jones was burning a Koran, he was not calling for the death of any person. He was making a statement about what he believed the religion of Islam to be, but did not invoke any person to violence. The violence that resulted, though was expected given the recent history, was chanted towards the United States as a whole, and other "western" people. It was those in the United Nations building, or the American officer who was shot down by an Afghanistan police officer.

If Iran and the rest of the IOC wants Islamophobia to stop perpetuating, it should start working with the other members of the IOC to be able to handle criticism and other ideas with dignity, instead of with calls for bloodshed. I have no delusion that the anti-western ideals go beyond a book burning or cartoons (that aren't really all that funny). I am sure it is reinforced and excused by religious ideas, but it is far more complicated than that. Trying to legislate speech codes is not the way to get respect and acceptance.

Secondly, the countries that want blasphemy laws, sorry, they wont do. Just look at what happens to Christians in Pakistan or Egypt. The core beliefs of Islam and Christianity are blasphemous to each other. According to Christianity Jesus is the son of God and Muhammad is a false prophet. They can not reconcile, those Ba'hai I believe does try to do that, I might be wrong there. Canada has a Hate Speech law, which, I question, but it is acceptable. The Hate Speech law suggested in the resolution by Egypt and the United States will not work because it is too vague.

It claims to fight any speech that advocates national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence. Discrimination or hostility are not definite enough. I would like to see the IOC implement this code when the mobs in countries, such as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and many other countries start calling on the destruction of the United States and burning effigies. That is hate speech. That would not be tolerated in Canada at all. But, what they want is simply to stop criticism of Islam.

Take out the discrimination and hostility as violence is enough in my books. Hostility and violence is redundant unless you are trying to get something that simply attacks speech that goes after ideas.

Since the IOC is asking to once again censor the cartoons that sparked the long series of events, which culminated in Draw Muhammad Day last year, I think I shall have to participate, if for no other reason than to remind people that religion should be treated with no greater respect than any other idea. More importantly, no religion should be treated above any other.

I would love to see more open criticism of the actions of those who say burn Bibles, it is rather common. However, I am not familiar with a recent riot that resulted in many deaths in North America, or Europe, or any other "western" country from a burning of a holy book.

When you respond with violence and hatred you will just perpetuate the cycle. That is why when people rioted over the burning of the Koran it sparked a slew of people openly burning it, even publicizing it. One man even smoked it, and the Bible for that matter. The Bible got a better score.

In a global, multicultural world, you will have those who don't agree with you and those you don't agree with. We can not start giving one group special privilege to be protected from critique, especially when they don't reciprocate in kind. We don't see the Jains asking for protection from criticism, even if they are not insulting others. If you want respect and kindness you need to work on making yourselves worthy of it. Even if you are respectable, you still have to be able to take criticism in a manner that is dignified. Part of a dignified manner, is to not try and kill, threaten, or imprison those who speak ill of you or the ideas that you have.

I challenge the members of the I.O.C. to do this. Look at the United Nations Declaration of Universal Rights, implement those in your countries and try to live up to that document. Freedom of religion is in there. I can not speak of all of us who openly criticize you, we do not wish to take away your rights to practice your religion, however, I do wish to limit your ability to harm and infringe on the rights of others in the name of your religion.

Weekly Horoscopes

2011-05-01T06:10:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have noticed that this blog has for the last 2 weeks had a horoscope posted. This was inspired by a comment made on The Good Atheist podcast, I wish I could tell you which exact one, but I can't. The comment was something along the lines of, there should be more public ridicule of astrology. There is absolutely no even agreed upon mechanism for how it "works" or even how to "calculate" it. In addition to this, every study ever done on astrology has come up with complete failure to support any version of it. In short, astrology and horoscopes are bunk.

With that, I thought I would at least make them more enjoyable to read each week. I assure you, I am fully qualified to create a weekly horoscope for your sign that may not have any predictive capability, but will hopefully give you a chuckle. The writing method for this, well, I can't divulge trade secrets. But, let me assure you, it fits right into my love for Science Fiction, Fantasy and my English bachelor of arts degree.

So, if you enjoy my drivel, I invite you back each week for more of it. I will attempt to post them up Saturday night for the following week. Please feel free to leave you thoughts and comments. If any of your horoscopes come true, like you really do get sucked into intergalactic negotiations, I would love to hear the story. Remember, anecdotal evidence is all astrology has to support it anyway.

Horoscopes: May 1 - 7, 2011

2011-04-30T23:09:00.000-07:00

Aquarius (1/20-2/18): This week you will find your energies being drained, causing you to ignore activities that would normally hold your attention. It may be that you have been hexed, if this lethargic behavior continues for more than a few days, it may be important to consult your local witch doctor for an elixir.

Pisces (2/19-3/20): There will be a great disturbance in the Force, like a million voices crying out in anguish. Do not be alarmed. It is merely sports fans wailing as their team loses pitifully another battle for an idolatrous idol.

Aries (3/21-4/19): Your pent up anger and frustration are going to reach a boiling point this week. It may be time to vent your rage in a simulated battle arena. You are in luck, as the stars show your broadband connection will be exceptionally strong this week.

Taurus (4/20-5/20): The obsessive collecting habits in which you hold to your heart shall be reinforced and fed later this week. The moons of Jupiter are coming into alignment. A long search shall be coming to a close as you finally stumble upon the missing peace in your plushy collection. Be weary, as the dealer will try to rip you off.

Gemini(5/21-6/21): Do not overlook a being simply because it happens to have skin that turns neon and a laugh that can send dogs running. Deep down, the essence of one you may normally be repulsed by, possibly by the face that they enjoy live dragmonts as a snack, may surprise you if you can hold on and get past the first impressions.

Cancer (6/22-7/22): The small things will get to you this week. Leaving the lights on in the shark chamber, taunting the hostages, and forgetting to pick up the paper. Hold on, you will be in for a surprise turn for the better come the end of the week.

Leo (7/23-8/22): They are on to you. You slipped up and now it is time to stay low. It might be safer to burn the evidence this time, cut and run. Don't forget to let the sprites out of the cell, don't worry, they have short memories and will be happy to enjoy the fresh air. It might not hurt though to make an example of what happens if they snitch.

Virgo (8/23-9/22): You are over thinking it, seriously. It is not too hard of decision. Knight to Bishop 4, really, was it that hard to decide? Now finish the game and get on with your life.

Libra (9/23-10/22): Well, this week you will find yourself in the pickle. Maybe you shouldn't have taken the red pill. You can always strike a deal and see about getting yourself re-inserted. But, while you are out, why not try to free some others?

Scorpio (10/23-11/21): Congratulations! You have a new career prospect coming your way this week. Just be careful when you agree to take the job. When your employer informs you that the former employee was terminated because he has anger management problems and can strangle you from across the room, it might be good to get a big life insurance policy.

Sagittarius (11/22-12/21): Just because you decided to go off on your own doesn't mean that you don't need some help. True, a mechanical robot may be a good choice for assistance. Be careful you don't buy a stolen droid though, you might end up on the bad side of Scorpio's new boss. In fact, it might be better to stick to buying house elves, they are much more loyal and do what you tell them to do.

Capricorn (12/22-1/19): Your stubbornness will get the better of you this week. It may be better just to relax a little or you will find yourself in over your head. Literally. Quick sand is not something to struggle too much against. So, be sure to bring a well trained guide who can help you out a bit, and use to trip when the natives start chasing you for stealing their treasures.

Alberta's Education System is at it again

2011-04-29T07:24:00.001-07:00

Am I being too critical of Alberta? Canada isn't officially a secular country. Just look at our constitution. I want it to be. Both Alberta and Ontario, likely others have schools run by the Catholic church that get public funding.

For those who aren't aware in Alberta they have a dual school system. One school board is Catholic run and the other is effectively secular. In some small towns though you get only Catholic and don't get the choice.

A bill has been proposed to alter the Education Act, the first time in something like 3 decades. They want to modernize it. No, they don't want to remove the religious indoctrinating school system. I could only wish.

They want to make school administrators responsible for preventing cyber bullying. I am rather disgusted by this idea. The reasoning is that cyber bullying affects students interactions at school. This is true. I can't deny that. So does any interaction between students outside of school.

Do the teachers have time to be internet police? Do the teachers have the responsibility to be watching over what the students are doing from their computers in their bedroom? Watching what they type in their cellphones while they sit in the mall? No.

I don't like bullying. I had to tolerate enough of it while I was in school, but it isn't the schools job to be enforcing rules of conduct and playing big brother outside of school. Then you will never be able to escape your teachers.

I am not even sure how this is going to work. Seriously. Even if students did accept friend invitations from teachers on Facebook the students could sensor what the teacher saw. Plus the teachers privacy would be ruined as well in that case. You can't force students to provide access to their email accounts. You do have privacy laws. What about twitter?

Unless you get a government machine like the great firewall of china up and running I can not see it be feesable.

Finally, I come back to, is it the teachers responsibility? Is this not just taking more responsibility from the parents and placing it on the teachers?

Maybe I am missing something here. What do you think?

Episode 150

2011-04-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

I didn't know how long I would keep these posts going. It has been a long couple of months. Many things have been learned and many concepts questioned. That should always be the way.

Am I still the same person who started this blog? Well, I don't know the speed in which the molecules making up a human body get recycled. The blue print is still about the same. I don't think I have had any serious cellular breakdown or mutations to cause my DNA to shift. No radioactive spider bites yet. Alas, what a shame.

Any major ideological shifts yet? I can't think of any serious ones. Still a secular humanist. Very much an atheist who swings from confrontationslist to moderate... Bridge builder.

My disgust at the Roman Catholic Church continues to grow and I have increased my awareness to politics, if either of those were possible to begin with. In general organized religion is something I still have a shaky perspective on. I see no reason churches in any fashion should by default be given tax advantages. I am much more of the opinion that they require to meet the same requirements of any non-profit organization that wants those. In addition clergy should pay the same taxes as anyone else.

I don't think many atheists would argue with those stances.

Before I started on this project I had been well aware of the existence of blasphemy laws being in existence. I had never fathomed that Canada would still have one. This fact disturbs me. It also makes it all the more important to continue writing what I do. Even if the law hasn't been used in over 60 years it is a disgrace to exist. If the current national election goes the wrong way next month it might be even more important to continue speaking out and writing more.

Freedom and personal rights, this is something I have come to cherish even more. They are not to be taken for granted. Each freedom has come at a cost. Often in lives. It makes it all the more important to relish in them, enjoy them, celebrate them and fight for them.

Every person has an agenda when they tell you something. From your parents to the news anchors to the teachers. Everything has a filter that needs to be judged. Don't believe anything I write at face value. If I don't source it, it is opinion, or straight rubbish. Think for yourselves and question any claim that seems self serving, unbelievable or just plain wrong.

Horoscopes: April 24 - 30, 2011

2011-04-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

Aquarius (1/20-2/18) - This week you will feel like you are balancing the weight of the world on your shoulders; however, you have to remember that it is only a few small uninhabited asteroids. Don't let your stubbornness get in the way of negotiations, and most intergalactic races don't appreciate human sarcasm. Best of luck.

Pisces (2/19-3/20) - Everyone understands that you are devoted to your friends and family. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made in order to move ahead. Keep that in mind this week when faced with uncaring parasites, particularly of the brain dwelling ones.

Aries (3/21-4/19) - You are always enthusiastic when it comes to your hobbies, but please remember to keep that temper under control. Being a firecracker can be fun, but when competing in a game of Exploding Beezelwranglers it can get a little messy.

Taurus (4/20-5/20) - This week your procrastination and sense of lethargy is going to get the best of you. Sometimes, the feeling that it isn't worth opening the door to the outside world can actually be a medical boon. When someone pounds on the door screaming that Brain Sucking Intergalactic Manatees are attacking, just make sure the deadbolt is in place and enjoy some pay per view.

Gemini(5/21-6/21) - Be careful this week. Your sneaky underhanded business dealings may come under close scrutiny. It might be a bit risky to try and lower property values on a peaceful planet in hopes of getting some cheap real estate. It might be better just to polish up older plots for the time being.

Cancer (6/22-7/22) - You may find yourself on edge this week and close companions are drifting away from you and going off on solo missions. It really isn't you. They just need to level up a bit through mindless, tedious, repetitive experience building. They will come back. Enjoy the vacation from their bad jokes.

Leo (7/23-8/22) - Watch your back.

Virgo (8/23-9/22) - It is time to put that logical and observant brain to work. You will be faced with a mystery this week that isn't like all those other ones. No, this isn't an old guy in a mask at an amusement park. This week, you will be faced with a much more elusive problem that may require some true detective work. Enjoy the challenge while it lasts.

Libra (9/23-10/22) - Once again you are going to be faced with having to negotiate between two peoples who just can't get along. Sure, one of them may have tricked the other with a trinket into selling something. But honestly, who owns a sun?

Scorpio (10/23-11/21) - When you go after a species with three arms there is going to be trouble. But, it is even worse when you accidentally date a Pnumian, didn't anyone ever tell you they all have identical twins? Your passion for adventurous dating is going to get you stuck in some hot water this week. Maybe hot plasma might be more accurate.

Sagittarius (11/22-12/21) - Things have finally come to a head. You need to break off and enjoy some independence. Maybe it is a cruise through a new nebula, or starting a career where you are self employed and your own boss. Whatever it is, you need to snip some of the strings that are making you feel confined and this is the week to do it.

Capricorn (12/22-1/19) - You feel like it is time to take charge of areas of your life that are trying to get out of control. It might be safer to sit back and examine your responsibilities and determine what you have the resources to handle in the future. Then, you can work on putting into place that dictatorship you have always dreamed of.

Fuck you Terry Jones

2011-04-22T16:11:00.001-07:00

Okay, I stood by you while you wanted to hold your Koran burning protest. It was a stupid idea and hate filled. It was also really vulgar and disgusting to books everywhere. But, it was your freedom of speech.

I stood by your side when you actually went through with it last month... as a result people used it as an excuse to incite violence, which you knew would happen, and people died as a result. I don't hold you completely to blame for those who died, you never told anyone to kill people. You were just the spark that set off the fireworks that were already set up.

However, to hold an anti-Islam rally outside of a mosque is just getting towards insanity, considering your well known reputation now. You wouldn't be the first. Rallies outside of religious institutions are common. Far too common. It is the fact that you are advertising that you will be carrying guns. That is the thing that kind of gets to me. It is like you want someone to try and martyr you. Which is what I think it is coming to. You actually want that to happen is my guess.

Now, you claim that this rally is against extremist Muslims. So I ask, why hold it at a peaceful mosque? Why not take your rally to say parts of Pakistan or Afghanistan where the Taliban and other extremist groups are in control? That I think would be far more useful sir.

Thank you for your time,

Dale

Guilty of Comedic Insult?

2011-04-22T02:49:00.000-07:00

The facts of the case are in question, however, I will take even the hardest approach to them. I am going to paint the picture using the worst case possible. I am sure that what I describe isn't what exactly happened, but it is good enough for my purposes.

Two ladies, a lesbian couple, are at a restaurant on a comedy night. The comedian on stage picks them out and starts making offensive sexist and homophobic comments as part of his routine. Such things as, they are sitting at the "dyke table". At least one of the ladies boos at his routine, it is rather repulsive and would make me cringe just listening to it myself. I might even partake in the booing.

Following him getting off the stage he goes over to the ladies table and continues to verbally be abusive.

She said she booed him in an attempt to shut him up and this caused him to leave the stage and come to their table where he loomed over her, swearing and asking her derogatory questions.

On the ladies way out he took the sunglasses off of one of their heads and broke them.

Alright, so we have the comic using a horribly offensive routine, in addition to that he may have broken the glasses of one of the ladies and was possibly harassing the ladies at their table. The guy was being a dick.

Now, the guy, and the owner of the restaurant are being sued over this event. Not for, say the price of the meal and the glasses that were allegedly broken. They were fined $22,500 for "lost wages and for injury to dignity, feelings and self respect." The claim was discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation.

The BC Human Rights Tribunal, as best as I know, deals with discrimination, which gender and sexual orientation are very much covered, under the following:

* tenancy (or renting property)
* accommodations, services, and facilities
* publications
* purchase of property (including commercial and residential property, bare land, and leases)
* employment ads
* wages
* employment
* membership in unions or associations

I don't think a comedic routine falls under any of those categories. You could also take the case, if you want to push it, to deal with Sexual Harassment, depending on what was said, maybe even normal harassment. The ladies were offended by what the comic was saying, it doesn't sound like he was a very good one. However, speech in this country is very much protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 2 guarantees the rights of freedom of
"thought, belief, opinion, and expression, including freedom of the press and other media".

There are limitations placed on these. We have a Hate Speech law, so if the guy was calling for all lesbians to be attacked, there would be a case. We have laws to ensure the media, in Canada, report the news with a certain level of truthfulness. We don't have a law limiting people from being assholes and saying things that offend.

If you are offended by the act at a restaurant, the correct course of action would be to have the manager notified, inform him that he has lost your business and hopefully try to get other customers to do the same thing.

Yes, being brutally insulted can be painful. I am not the best person to say that I get attacked verbally, regularly. It has been a long time since high school. But a case like this can set a bad precedent. Soon we are going to have to have more speech laws set by precedent. Comedy Clubs wont be able to put on shows out of fear of reproductions because someone might get offended.

The list of things that people are protected from discrimination is rather long:

# race
# colour
# ancestry
# place of origin
# political belief
# religion
# marital status
# family status
# physical disability, including HIV and AIDS
# mental disability
# sex
# sexual orientation
# age

Just look at this, no race jokes (okay most of those are bad), no jokes about the Conservatives or even more fun American Republicans, no Catholic jokes, no jokes about being divorced, no jokes about being old and wrinkled, no jokes about being a guy or a girl (even if the same gender gives them). Yes, it is a slippery slope argument. What I am saying is that if you want to go after the guy, you shouldn't do it because what he said to you was offensive. We don't have the right not to be offended.

That is my opinion on the matter, what do you have to say?

The Jesus Question: Will He Ever Return?

2011-04-22T02:03:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, I ended up on a mailing list for Newsmax. I wasn't exactly sure what the hell I was getting or how I got signed up for it. Either way I have since come to a couple of conclusions.

- It is an American "news" feed
- It is very right wing
- It is conservative... okay Republican
- It is hilarious

I get an e-mail about once a day, sometimes more I think, from this site and it turns out they also have a magazine! As you can guess by the title, this issue that they are advertising is regarding the question if Jesus will ever return. The sales pitch goes as follows:

In these deeply troubled times, the question rises to the fore: Is Jesus Christ about to come back?

Is the Second Coming real or myth?

Wow, it is really important isn't it? They are also going to be "skeptical" and "even handed" about their approach aren't they. Very unbiased and good journalism shall follow I am sure.

Just to give you an idea, and more about my claims for what I think of this site, the issue also offers a very important piece by a well recognized and very good news reporter.

This issue of Newsmax magazine also includes an exclusive interview with media pundit, Glenn Beck, who expounds on Judgment Day, Armageddon, the 12th Imam, and Barack Obama's "frightening" policies.

Okay, that is a cheap thought isn't it? Just because Glenn Beck, last I heard, had lost his show. I am kind of curious about his take on Armageddon, he is Mormon after all. So, for those who want to know what you can look forward to in this very excellent piece of reporting on the topic of the return of Jesus:

* What the Bible predicts about the Second Coming
* The surprising number of Americans who expect Christ's return
* Why many believe the Second Coming is imminent
* The world's most likely flashpoint for Armageddon
* Mike Huckabee's exclusive Newsmax interview about Christ's return
* Why end-times beliefs can profoundly influence people
* How secular progressives are "fear-mongering" about Christians
* Where different denominations stand on the Second Coming
* The two central end-time issues confronting Christianity
* The ominous parallels between today's times and Christ's message
* Why date-setting Christ's return is "horribly irresponsible"
* The "Tribulation" that will precede the Second Coming
* What "Left Behind" co-author Tim LaHaye tells Newsmax about world socialism
* The Mayan calendar and the catastrophic year 2012
* Apocalypse later — earlier predictions about the world's end
* What Columbus, Newton and Nostradamus predicted about Christ's return
* Prognosticator William Miller and "The Great Disappointment"
* Why the restoration of Israel worries some believers
* What Muslims believe about Jesus
* Russia, the Arabs, Iran and the Book of Ezekiel
* An atheist's viewpoint on the Second Coming
* Former Nixon aide Chuck Colson's views on Christian values
* And more

You know, I wanted to cut out the boring sections, but I really couldn't find any. The only thing that I can think of which is important is the one that is entitled "Why date-setting Christ's return is "horribly irresponsible"". I am sure they will pull the quotes from the Gospels about how "no one knows but the father" when the end will come. I am psychic you know. Beyond that, I just think the rest will have me hitting my head on my desk far too much if I read it... Still, sometimes I do like to torture myself for entertainment. If anyone has a subscription, for some reason, I would be happy to borrow. I don't think my local library will cover this kind of drivel. I hope we don't. Maybe the university will have it in the Social Sciences department...

Don't worry, the end is scheduled for May 21st (the nearest Apocalypse). I know of several groups planning parties that day in celebration of... well, laughing at those who think the rapture is upon us. So, stay tuned.

Canadian Election

2011-04-13T06:09:00.000-07:00

Well, Canada is in the middle of a national election process. I find the process rather more efficient than the extremely long American presidential election campaign. I still wish that in some cases it were more efficient. I haven't even received my election card yet...

At one point I was in favor of the Green party. Regrettably their new leader I dislike and they are now being more overt in their support of "alternative" medicine, such as homeopathy. Something that should never be supported by the government and anyone who practices it I think should be shut down. It has been tested and it has failed that test. You need to be able to do at least better than placebo.

The NDP I normally would be supporting, however, my main goal is to try and help cut more seats from the Conservative party this year. I would like at the very least to preserve a minority government. My goal would be a Liberal-NDP minority. I think that would be a nice balance and keep either party from going to extreme. The country needs stability and not much in the way of radical change for a couple more years. There are some things that I would like to see with radical change, but we need to greatly increase funding for education and health care, that would require working provincial and national governments working together. I don't think the Conservatives will do that, Harper seems to like control far too much. Hell, he changed the title of his government from the Government of Canada to the Harper Government. If that isn't an ego trip and totalitarian move I don't know what is.

I request everyone to join in the crushing of the Conservative party to give it a wake-up call. I could just start streaming errors that they have made in the last few years, but honestly, you can look at my previous posts or just think for yourself. Ruining the national census, the G8-G20 fuck-up, extending the commitment to Afghanistan without taking it to parliament, the attempted anti-intellectual copyright law changes, censorship of government employed researchers, failing to attack global climate change, dissolving parliament to avoid non-confidence votes. I am sure I am missing some things. Please feel free to add your complaints in the comments below.

I didn't comment on the gun registry thing because I am not sure about it at this time. Currently I think since it has been instigated it is a useful tool to help protect RCMP officers, however, I don't know how actually beneficial it is.

To help select who to vote for here is a nice tool:

http://www.projectdemocracy.ca/

Christians Apologizing for Christians

2011-04-11T06:19:00.000-07:00

Hemant over at the Friendly Atheist posed the question "Are Christians Allowed to Apologize for other Christians?" The question itself was raised in regard to the recent burning of the Quran by Pastor Terry Jones, ya him again. A large deal was made over the fact that it was only one guy in Florida, and his followers, burning a book. Another group, though large, loud, and violent, took offense to this action. Hemant himself wrote a post available on the Washington Post, that I took away form, suggesting that Christians as a whole should not be apologizing for the behavior of a guy who happens to fall under the same very general umbrella, because they are not supporting his actions and actively denouncing them.

Many people agreed with his arguments, and so did I when I first read them. However, he has since posed a nice reflective argument. When Churches support GLTB events and hold signs saying that they are sorry for what other Christian groups have done to people in these events many non-Christians think it is a nice sentiment.

I have come to a couple of conclusions regarding this issue. I am sure that many Christian's do not support the burning of the Quran. They may have similar views of Terry Jones that it isn't a good book, but recognize it still in some strange way as "sacred", in addition take more in the consideration of the re-productions of what the burning would do.

Many Christian's, the vast majority I am going to guess (I haven't checked the statistics), do see homosexuality as a sin and in such numbers enough, especially in the United States, to systematically discriminate against gays.

It is the difference in how mainstream the actions and beliefs are. We know that Terry Jones is fringe, at least in how open and active he is in what he is doing. Religion discriminating against GLTBs is not by any stretch of the imagination fringe, it is very much the norm. The liberal claim for many Christian groups is "hate the sin, not the sinner". It is that twisted disgusting logic that keeps discrimination so systemic in society.

So yes, I support the baby steps of people from churches joining in Pride events and even showing apologies on behalf of religion, even if it isn't the mainstream religion. It is the fact that the mainstream religion is actually discriminatory that I support such actions. When it moves to the fringes and is no longer able to have any clout in policy making that I will think it is unnecessary.

Proportionality

2011-04-05T02:08:00.000-07:00

Proportionality in a legal context can be summed up in the fact that the punishment should fit the crime. In a historical concept you may hear something closer to "an eye for an eye". However, over the centuries the concept has changed and society has altered this concept to what we consider more "civilized". No longer are people getting their hand's cut off for a loaf of bread... well, not in Canada at least when the state is doing the punishment. In other cultures on Earth that is not the case. If you have the stomach for it, enjoy Iran.

Previously I had commented on the issue of the Quran burning being threatened by the disgusting example of our species Terry Jones. Well, he did finally go through with it. In response to this there have been riots in Afghanistan, a raid on a United Nations building killing several people there, an Afghan police officer even killed two US soldiers. The violence in Afghanistan was spurred on by three Mullahs during Friday prayer.

In addition two Christians were killed in Pakistan and several Bibles were burned. Not to mention Jones has received hundreds of death threats (beyond those from the first time he threatened to do this) and the White House has once again called his act "unamarican" for whatever that can mean.

That is the basics of the story. I am sure I am missing lots of details and to sift through all the information would take a lot of time. Please refer to the news articles and any other news source you can find if you want more information. The short summary is. It has been argued that Terry Jones is to blame for the violence and the dead, equating him as a murderer for the act of burning a book.

It should be noted that the burning took place on March 20, 2011 and there was basically no reaction until the riots and protests started on April 1, 2011. Terry Jones claims no responsibility for the people who have passed away in the ensuring "demonstrations" that have taken place over this incident.

Senators are also looking into finding ways to take legal action against Terry Jones, my guess is to try and write him off as a scapegoat, for his actions.

So, while people in Afghanistan are chanting "Death to America", killing foreigners and burning effigies of American President Barak Obama because a crackpot, who happens to lead a church of about 50 people, burned a book people have been trying to place the blame for the those who have died in the disgusting riots.

If the sole cause of the riots falls down to the burning of the Quran I am even more horrified by being of the same species as those who committed the crimes. Burning a book is not a crime, nor should it ever be. It can be a provocative action, like burning a flag. It may offend some people. That does not mean that it should be responded with in violence. Sure burn an effigy, burn the Bible, burn an American Constitution. Remember who it is that you are protesting. Those who are chanting "Death to America" are hardly protesting simply the actions of Terry Jones. They have other issues that they are mad about.

The Mullah's likely sparked the flame by using Terry Jones as a target, the last spark, using the religion of those listening to them and their irrational convocations to drive them to violent rioting. Should Jones have expected this when he thought about his actions? There is no questioning it.

The first time he threatened to burn the Quran, the president of Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country on the planet, threatened that it would lead problems.

Terry Jones is not innocent in his actions. He purposefully acted in a way that was hateful, intolerant, and offensive. The way he acted was extremely provocative. Is he responsible for people's deaths? No, I can not see how. Those responsible are those who committed the murders, and I would even go as far as to call the Mullahs who drove those listening to their message to act.

It is hard to live in peace together when you have ideologies that clash in such a way as this. People have to learn to be able to live peacefully and not lash out with violence when someone they see does something they consider offensive. Especially when it comes to religion, because some religions hold the existence of other points of view to be innately offensive.

What else is there to say? Grow up humanity, thank you. Now go hug someone.

India you are making me sad

2011-03-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

Even as the Gujarat government on Wednesday banned the book on Mahatma Gandhi by Joseph Lelyveld that has run into controversy for allegedly saying he was a bisexual and a racist, the Centre is now mulling a law that would make showing any disrespect to the Father of the Nation an offence punishable with a jail term.

Wait... what? It is a crime to insult Gandhi... Seriously? I can only imagine now what he would have did to someone who insulted him. Probably not much. I haven't read the book, so I don't know about him being bisexual. Was Gandhi a racist? Oh ya. That I have seen enough evidence for. Even if he wasn't, free speech shouldn't be limited from insulting important figures from history. Good or bad. Generally speaking Gandhi did a hell of a lot of good work, and showed the power of peaceful protest. The thing that was demonstrated recently in Egypt, though along side some not so peaceful counter protest that caused lots of problems.

The same article goes on to show some more draconian laws that India is looking into implementing.

Under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, anybody who “burns, mutilates, defaces, defiles, disfigures, destroys, tramples upon or otherwise shows disrespect to or brings into contempt (whether by words, either spoken or written, or by acts) the Indian National Flag or the Constitution of India” can be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and/or fine.

I have seen flag burning laws before, I don't know if there is one in Canada. It can be argued, and has been done, that burning a flag falls under free speech and thus should be permitted. I would have to check with a Canadian criminal code, but the law might be on the books.

It looks like in Canada, not to recently, some students burned a flag and were not prosecuted, so, it looks like it is legal! Go Canada!

The next set of laws being proposed in India are even more depressing.

Anybody intentionally preventing the singing of the National Anthem or causing disturbance to any assembly engaged in such singing can also be punished with imprisonment for a maximum term of three years under the Act. Any subsequent offence under the Act carries a minimum punishment of one year.

The way this is worded now makes it look like you could be arrested for refusing to sing the National Anthem, as it could be suggested that you are preventing yourself from doing so. I don't think that is the intention. Still, it is far to close to excessive nationalism I think and anyone trying to perform peaceful protest, say at a government rally and causing a disturbance nearby would be able to be arrested on these grounds. These laws are showing signs of totalitarianism and remove, restrict and prevent rightful protest, free expression and more importantly with the one about The "Father of the Nation" truth and education.

India, you should be ashamed.

The article can be found here.

Keep Up to Date

2011-03-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

I had this great rant about Faith built up and then I got distracted by an old podcast on thegoodatheist.net. Oh well, that is alright, it was a great one. I am slowly making my way through their backlog of episodes as I am bored to tears at work sometimes. It is nice background. After that I will probably start working through The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, that will take much longer as their episodes are like 80 minutes long a piece and there are something like 260 that I haven't listened to.

I have been doing my best to keep up with the news of the activities in Northern Africa and the Middle East. With great rejoice I the cabinet in Syria has resigned due to the unrest. I am going to need to start referring to a map to see exactly how things are panning out. The unrest in Saudia Arabia and Morocco seems to have been settled. Iran crushed their protests very violently, don't worry I am still working on my second epic piece on Iranian history if you have been waiting for it. Things in Lybia are violent, I don't think anyone can avoid the news going on there. Yemen is picking up steam as things are getting worse there. Egypt is still moving forward, but still we await the elections to find out what happens. Tunisia is still courting its interm government, awaiting proper elections. Algeria is calling for peaceful reforms... much better then the violent ones, but I don't believe Algeria has a dictatorship... I might be wrong. Sudan recently had its national vote to divide the country, not up to date on on what is going on there. And things continue to go downhill in Bahrain.

We are living in interesting times.

The Rod of Psalms

2011-03-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

Don't take 3 posts 3 days in a row to think that this blog will be back up to its daily posting. I can't make that promise, nor do I feel like making it. But, it is far from dead. Thinking about altering the design though...

Two days ago I commented on a guy following Leviticus 20:13 and stoning an elderly man to death for homosexual advances, or assumed advances. Well, I now have another horrible part of the Old Testament being used.

A members of a church in Wisconsin are being charged with beating children, as young as 2 months with rods.

The pastor and seven members of a small church in central Wisconsin have been charged with using wooden rods to spank infants as young as 2 months old for "being emotional, grumpy or crying," the Dane County Sheriff's office said.

This is horrible. Beating a 2 month old! Hell, beating any child with rods. I have had a wooden spoon used on me and that hurt. I can't imagine a rod.

"Throughout the investigation, the church members were open with detectives about their 'Spare the rod, spoil the child' philosophy. They described using wooden dowels and wooden spoons on the bare skin of children, starting as young as 2 months old," the sheriff's office said.

"If you spank early and it is done right, then kids will be happy and obedient," Philip Caminiti said, according to the criminal complaint.

I am not surprised that they used the exact same argument I thought they would when they were claiming the Bible teaches that using a rod is important. It is found in several passages throughout psalms.

These rods were not all that small as well.

According to the sheriff's office, the dowels were described as being 12-18 inches long with a diameter about the size of a quarter. The parents told detectives that "redness and bruising" were the "common effects of the spankings."

It is illegal up in Canada to spank if it leaves bruises, or at least that is what I remember. Redness is okay, but not on a 2 month old baby! Fuck.

For anyone who is interested in some of the Bible passages that support using a rod to straighten out your child.

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. Proverbs 13:24
Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. Proverbs 19:18
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Proverbs 22:15
The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Proverbs 29:15

Biblical parenting, not the way to go.

United Nations International Blasphemy Law Update

2011-03-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

I can not think of a freedom more important to us than that of Freedom of Speech. Without it, we do not truly have freedom of thought. I am still fighting with myself over the validity of the Canadian Hate Speech laws, I both like them, but fear they may be abused. Currently, this has not been the case. Their wording is at least better than what the blasphemy law in England became.

Before reading the rest of this post, I suggest you refer to my previous post on Censorship and Free Speech that I made last year in the build up to Blasphemy Day.

Now for today's news. The large 57 country Islamic bloc has dropped its 12 year push at the United Nations to make religious defamation a crime.

For the last 12 years the bloc, being led by Pakistan of coarse, has been pushing every year for a non-binding resolution that condemns religious defamation, effectively, making a blasphemy law, which is against the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Let me get out of the way that espousing different religious beliefs is, in itself, blasphemy. Even within different "Christian" denominations. Compare a Catholic and a Mormon. Their core teachings would be blasphemous. The Anglican statement that transubstantiation is not literal would be found blasphemous to a Catholic. Let alone claiming that Jesus is God or the Son of God or both would be found blasphemous according to Islamic teachings (it actually lists that example in the Quran if memory serves me correctly).

Blasphemy laws are stupid in a multi-cultural world. One of the reasons that the push was going so strong was:

argued that such protection against defamation was essential to defend Islam, and other religions, against criticism that caused offence to ordinary believers. Islamic countries pointed to the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed in Denmark in 2005, which sparked anti-Western violence in the Middle East and Asia, as examples of defamatory treatment of their faith that they wanted stopped.

Seriously, they were offended that people in other countries had drawn cartoons. We are back to Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, or at least one of the reasons to support it. Embassies were burned and people died because cartoons offended people. Yet, I am sure that many of the people who got violent over cartoons against Islam wouldn't have batted an eye when they saw some of the countless blasphemous cartoons against Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, or any of the countless other religions in the world. How many people have in modern times gone about rioting over images of Jesus on South Park? Or Buddha snorting coke?

GROW UP!

Why am I still angry? Besides the fact that human lives have been lost, and people are in hiding over the events that have brought us to where we are. Because, they still haven't learned. Even though an agreement has been reached to temporarily put the breaks on:

diplomats from Islamic countries have warned the council that they could return to campaigning for an international law against religious defamation if Western countries are not seen as acting to protect believers.

What western country doesn't protect people's freedom of religion? Sure, we aren't going to protect people from being offended. People get offended over so many stupid things. I get offended when people tell me they will pray for me. I am not going to start a fight over it. It is one thing to protect people from violence and harassment for their religion, but protecting people from words and cartoons is too much. You are saying that you are too week to handle dissenting views. If that is the case, maybe what you believe is too fragile to handle the real world and it should be abandoned anyway.

LEVITICUS 20:13

2011-03-26T03:21:00.000-07:00

Leviticus 20:13 reads, in the King James Bible:

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

There are a few countries where this may actually be put to use. Most recently, it was trying to be implemented in Uganda. However, I never thought that I would live to see it being implemented, and backed up by the Bible in such a way in North America. Let me get my point straight. I am not saying in any way that hate crimes, violence and even murder of people does not happen motivated by anti-gay ideals.

A 28-year-old man has been charged with murder after telling police that he stoned a 70-year-old man to death for making homosexual advances toward him, authorities say.

There we have it, a man was stoned to death for being gay. Now, to make matters worse, this is not manslaughter. The man, who has admitted to the crime, actually went home and sought religious guidance through bible study and prayer.

Thomas reportedly told authorities that he read in the Old Testament that homosexuals should be stoned to death. When Seidman allegedly made homosexual advances toward him over a period of time, Thomas said he received a message in his prayers that he must end Seidman’s life, according to court documents.

The fact that he "received a message in his prayers" either suggests that he may have some psychological issues. Regardless of the fact, the man justified and implemented the crime based upon his findings from the Bible. I wonder what would have happened if homosexuality was not a crime listed in the Bible, let alone one to be solved by murder.

Several Brief Comments

2011-03-21T00:32:00.000-07:00

I have several quick things that I want to touch on today. First, there is a great video talking about the history of God that was put up. I think I linked the earlier one in the series a while ago. This one is more talking about several ideas as to what God is or was. I truly recommend the entire series if you have time to watch them all. It is wonderfully done.

Second, looks like people are pushing for another Everybody Draw Mohammad Day. It will once again be on May 20th. Thunderfoot has done a quick video on why this is important and why he thinks it will continue. I haven't decided if I support the day this year. Well, that isn't true. I haven't decided if I shall be participating. I am a much bigger supporter of Blasphemy Day mostly because it attacks the ridiculous position that religion should go un-criticized. However, without question, the creation of Everybody Draw Mohammad Day is well founded, and the reasoning in perpetuating it in order to break that taboo is warranted I think. I will save my ramblings on that subject for another time.

Also, if you want some fun music, here is Lily Allen's Fuck You. It is important for the next topic. The organization that I hate the absolute most in the world. The Roman Catholic Church.

Today it was linked through a link, a report that took a quick survey as to how prolific the number of child rapists there are in the Roman Catholic Church. I had been waiting to find these numbers before I actually could flaunt them. You see, one of the arguments against the fact that there are ANY pedophiles in the Roman Catholic Church, is that it is just a few, or there are pedophiles everywhere. I wont go into the stupidity of this when this organization is supposed to be a moral guidance to the rest of the world. At the very least they should have fewer numbers of pedophiles rather than greater. Now, remember, the Roman Catholic Church also has a great amount of influence and does everything it can do hide and protect pedophile priests. My guess is that in reality, it is going to be higher. I got the original link through PZ here. If you want a nice rant, I recommend the post. The report is actually linked through a blog post here.

In society, based on the United States figures, there are about 0.08% of the population being pedophiles. If the defenses being used by the Roman Catholic Church are even admissible, we are not taking into the huge numbers of crimes they commit by hiding, protecting, pedophiles and numerous other crimes and morally questionable behaviors, they should have somewhere close to 0.08%. They failed. If you take into account all the priests ordained in 1970, so they have served roughly their normal term active, the number of priests with allegations brought against them is 10%. That is 125 times larger! True, a very small number of those allegations may be false, however, false rape reports are only roughly 8%. We also have to take into account the fact that many allegations against priests go unreported and I am going to take a wild guess that the false reporting for sexual crimes against Children is actually lower than those against adult. I have no evidence to back that claim up, it is merely my own opinion.

I think you can see what I am getting at. The defense that there are pedophiles everywhere is no an argument. It is a vicious crime, and protecting them and supporting an institution that protects and proliferates abuse towards children is morally reprehensible.

Racism in Calgary

2011-03-20T02:50:00.001-07:00

You know, I make a lot of jokes at the expense of Alberta. Having spent over a year living there I honestly didn't see too much different from some of the more rural parts of British Columbia. The only difference is that you get most trucks, lots more trucks, and less diversity in the population.

Alberta has a lot of problems. Like parts of its public schools are Catholic run. You also have a lot more problems when it comes to things like racism. Jokes, normally aimed at First Nations/Native Americans were not uncommon. Also in some areas you get them aimed at Chinese and other Asians. However, I never saw this. Calgary has an annual neo-Nazi demonstration it seems. What the fuck! We are going to arrest a guy claiming hate speech but Calgary has an organized annual neo-nazi demonstration.

I don't feel like going into explaining why the concept of white pride and the neo-nazi movement is stupid. However, I am baffled that there is an annual demonstration in Calgary. At least to its credit it was only about 15-20 people, likely more aimed at just trying to ruffle feathers. To the city of Calgary's benefit about 200 people came to be the counter protest.

It kind of reminds me of the counter protest held against the Westboro Baptist Church by the attendees at Comic Con.

Religion and Eating Disorders

2011-03-10T03:53:00.000-08:00

A recent study done in in Spain on religion and eating disorders produced a rather surprising result. To be fair, I never really expected to find much correlation between eating disorders and religious practice. Many religions have dietary restrictions, some of them... most of them confusing. We are not talking about dietary restrictions here, but actual eating disorders and body dissatisfaction.

Lets take a quick look at the research itself. Its sample size was 494 students between the ages of 12 and 20 taken from 3 public schools in Ceuta. For a preliminary study this sounds decent. The sample size is large, the age groups are varied, and when talking about eating disorders, that is a good age group to start with. Alright, sure. Unfortunately the article that I have on the study doesn't list the controls given. The study also only is comparing Christian, Jewish and Muslim students. However, Wikipedia indicates that these are the primary religious groups and Ceuta has a population of less than 80,000.

The results are what I find surprising.

as a general conclusion, an average of one in four adolescents suffers some type of eating disorder, and 15% suffers body dissatisfaction.

That in itself is a scary result, and I find it slightly questionable. From what I know of eating disorder statistics in Canada, even amongst girls the statistics are closer to 2% who suffer from eating disorders. This could prove to be a flaw in the study, a cultural difference, a difference in defining characteristics of the disorders or my own knowledge being at fault. For now lets see how the religions measure up compared to the standards of the population?

The incidence of eating disorders was found to be 2.3-fold higher among Muslim adolescents than among their Christian classmates. Similarly, body dissatisfaction was 1.8-fold higher in the former group.

Now, we can't jump to the conclusion that being a Muslim means that you are more prone to eating disorders. The article makes it well known that only one other study of this kind has been done and that was in Israel. Muslim students make up roughly 30% of the participants in the study and might possibly be equally distributed amongst the school population, or they might not. It may be a form of social pressure caused by the fact that the vast majority of the Muslim students are recent immigrants, or any number of things.

The results of the study are significant enough that I hope someone does some follow-up on it. Preferably with a larger sample size and from other regions to compare. I would also like to see some non-religious categories added to compare there as well.

For those who are interested, in statistics for Eating Disorders in Canada the National Eating Disorder Information Centre provides lots of information and studies to enhance your knowledge.

Revolution on the brain

2011-03-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

I am currently waiting for a friend at the theater and a strange thought has been coming to my mind.

I have been doing my best to follow the protests and revolutions that are crossing many predominantly Islamic countries. In all of my studies of history I can not think of another time that such a series of revoltions took place in such a short period of time. However, that isn't to say that one revolution did not inspire another. The best example that I can think of us the American revolution inspiring the French. If you don't see how this is also a dangerous thought let me remind you how much the French wanted to share there revolution... Napoleon anyone?

It is without question that the reason these events are so closely linked together time wise is without question due to the internet and mass media. The news is traveling far quicker and the events can be watched around the world and global influence can help.

Egypt's New Constitution

2011-02-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

Well, that is a lie. It isn't actually a new constitution, nor is it in effect. The Egyptian military has created a draft constitutional change that will be given to the people to vote on in a national referendum. These changes are to be put into place before the next election, in about 6 months. Some of the changes are:

restricting the president to 2 - 4 year terms.
Making it easier for people to run for president.
having the elections overseen by the judiciary.

These are basic things that are needed to hold a valid presidential election that is coming up. I honestly don't know what the elections are going to look like or what Egypt's new constitution will look like. What I do know is that I am hoping that the people will get what they have fought to hard to obtain. Democracy it seems can only be brought to people when those in power have their power taken away through bloodshed.

The people in power need to be afraid of the masses. I only wish that some of the leaders in western countries were more afraid of holding onto their power that they knew it was in their interests to stop trying to abuse it.

The Coffee Party

2011-02-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

Alright America, I am happy to see some rational discussion about American politics coming about. Honestly, I think some national restructuring is needed. Then again, I can say the same thing about Canada. It is with this that I am interested in following what is going on with this "Coffee Party". The name is without question a poke at the "Tea Party". However, the Coffee Party is starting with a central website. When the Tea Party started, they didn't have one. They were more a "movement". So, please take a few moments to go and read their website.

Priests Abusing Nuns

2011-02-27T07:39:00.000-08:00

I do not have more sources to back up this article that I am sharing. However, the article is rather shocking in some aspects, but not unexpected. The weekly magazine The National Catholic Reporter has obtained documents indicating that the Vatican is aware of rape and sexual abuse of nuns in at least 23 countries, mostly in Africa, but also India, the United States, Italy, Ireland and the Philippines.

Priests would often rape the nuns, often to avoid getting HIV from prostitutes. The nuns were sometimes provided the pill, claiming it would help prevent her from getting HIV, or forcing the nuns to get abortions. It is unreported, or unknown, how long this practice has been taking place. I would assume for some time. Likely, longer than HIV has been definitively known, let alone the cause and how it is spread.

It is a disgusting practice and gives all the more reason why this organization needs to be taken down, and what is left be put under supervision and forced to submit to the laws of civilization and humanity like every other organization should.

If anyone has any more information on this, please share it with me. This truly makes the idea of priest celibacy even more laughable.

Pre-Theocratic Iran

2011-02-21T02:34:00.001-08:00

As promised, and late as usual, I would like to start my introduction to Iran. I honestly don't have a solid background in the history of this country as I would like, so I have to research everything before I post it. I may make some errors in this, so please, if you see a mistake comment or email me and I will double check what I post and correct as needed. As I said, I am not an expert, my specialties for history are Britain, Canada and Japan, with a smattering from other countries such as China, Korea, South East Asia and Europe.

The area where Iran currently is today has been continually populated longer than many other regions. Archeological evidence suggests that humans have been in the area for over 30,000 years, and signs of agricultural settlements in the region are from roughly 8 - 9,000BC . From that point on the area has shifted under the control of several different rulers. Notably the area was under Persian rule, and then conquered by the Alexander the Great of Greece. The Sassanid Empire held the region from 223 - 651AD. This empire had a great amount of influence in Europe, Asia and Africa. It regularly clashed with the Roman-Byzantine Empire and would later act as the foundation for culture found in in the Islamic world.

The invasion of what is now Iran by Muslims started in 637AD and by 674AD all of modern day Iran had been conquered. A side note, one of the dominant religions and oldest known monotheistic religions Zoroastrian was almost wiped out at this point. There are less than 200,000 followers left today and Iran, the country of its founding, has less than 30,000 of them.

After the fall of the Sassanid Empire many of the Arab Muslims who came in under the Umayyad Caliphate adopted Persian customs and used what had been the administrative and court proceedings. Persian was even the language of business still for the next hundred years or so, when Arabic was fully adopted. In 750 the Umayyad Caliphate was overthrown by the Abbasid dynasty. This group managed to retain power until the early 10th century when most of its power had been lost and acted merely as a figurehead.

In 1258 Baghdad was sacked by the Mongols, effectively bringing and end to the Abbasid Caliphate. Until 1381 Iran was under the control of the Mongols. This saw both great suffering and great benefit for the region. Scholarship was destroyed as libraries were burned and mosques were replaced with Buddhist temples, at first. A large amount of infrastructure was damaged, or demolished. The administrators were put to death, maybe a good thing.

The benefits that came were however impressive. The Mongol rulers encouraged agriculture and the arts. Roads and irrigation systems were rebuilt and expanded upon. Trade routes under Mongol rule were made safer with those of Asia. Iran saw trade increase with India and China during this time. In addition, the Mongol rulers eventually converted to Islam and made it the state religion for the area, this also likely helped its spread into other territories controlled by the Mongol empire.

In 1381 Iran was almost completely conquered by Timur, not exactly sure where he came from. However, he held the country for some time until his successors lost hold of it in 1452.

The Safavid Empire, from Persia held Iran from 1502 - 1736. Most notably, this was very much a religious empire of Shi'a(Shia) Islam. Before the arrival of the Safavid Empire it was estimated that 90% of Iran was of Sunni Islam. The differences between the two main branches of Islam are complicated and far to difficult to go into at this time. But if you are familiar with recent history, say in Iraq, they don't get along. A nice correlation might be any Protestant Christianity with Roman Catholic. Religious violence against the wrong type of Islam isn't necessarily unfounded, the right type being the ones who are in charge.

So when the Safavid Empire took control Shia Islam, and there specific brand of it, was named the official religion. During the time of the Safavid Empire the area of Iran was invaded by the Ottomans, the Afghans as well as the Russians at one point. However, the Safavid Empire managed to regain the territory.

1779 brought about the Qajar Dynasty in which Iran was not completely whole. Control over parts of its territory was granted away by treaties to various colonial powers, Britain, France, and Russia. However, int 1906 a constitutional government was formed founding what became known as the Shahs. Control over Iran by its own government was still not complete. In 1908 oil was discovered and Britain and Russia fought over control until the Russian revolution of 1919. Britain made an unsuccessful attempt to gain control over the territory.

In 1921 there was a military coup which established Reza Kahn as the dominant figure until 1941, goodbye constitutional monarchy. Like many radical idealist dictators he had the goal of modernizing and protecting the country. He wanted modern amenities such as: schools, trains, buses, radios, cinemas, and telephones. However, he also wanted to protect the country, especially with the rise of the Soviet Union and Germany. A strong army was important, as was law and order. This resulted, as with many dictators, with oppression, corruption and censorship. He also wanted a strongly secular country and was highly anti-communist. He went a little too far possibly with the secularization:

In particular he clashed with Iran's clergy and devout Muslims. His laws and regulations required mosques to use chairs, all Iranian except qualifying Shia jurisconsults to wear western clothes including a hat with a brim, encouraged women to discard hijab, allowed mixing of the sexes. In 1935 bazaaris and villagers rose up at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad chanting slogans such as `The Shah is a new Yezid.`

wikipedia

Reza was forced to abdicate when Russia and Britain invaded, Britain from Iraq and Russia from the north. They needed oil for the war and therefore needed someone pro-British, like Reza's son Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who would rule until 1979. When the war ended Britain and Russia were supposed to leave and the country was supposed to be independent, however, Russia didn't leave for well over a year and to a point, was forced out. Not surprised since Stalin was still in power.

Between the end of the war and 1953 the government saw a large amount of corruption and when Pahlavi attempted to force a Prime Minister of his choosing into power there was a short lived coup lead by one of the Imperial Guards forcing him out of the country. He returned shortly there after on August 19 1953 led by a retired army general, backed by the American CIA and the British M6.

After this point Iran became closer to the "west". It received support and funding from the United States. International corporations, primarily oil, were permitted to operate with a 50/50 cut of profits, though Iran could not audit their books or have representatives on their governing boards. 50/50 may not have been so. In 1957 martial law was finally ended and in 1961 there were social, economic, agrarian and governmental/administrative reforms starting.

The reforms and economic ties to the west showed unprecedented increases in progress for the country, however the Islamic religious and political groups were alienated and marginalized. This led to rioting in support of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1963, he was exiled the following year.

From 1969 until 1975 there were boarder disputes with Iraq and relations were not good. From 1970 Iran increased its military budget and held the largest military in the region.

Between 1978 and 1979 Iran saw the Islamic Revolution. By December 1979 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was named supreme ruler of Iran under a theocratic constitution.

One of the most interesting aspects of this revolution can be seen in how the theocratic constitution was put in place on April 1, 1979 a referendum was held and supposedly, the vast majority voted in this government. Maybe they didn't know what they were voting in. In addition, the Islamic theocracy is strictly Shia Islam. Western influences are actually "banned" and this event is likely one of the most important turning points in the reputation of Islam in the world today. To say the least, Iran currently gives a bad name to almost anything it is associated with, minus the attempted revolution currently taking place right now.

From 1979 until today Iran has taken a drastic change from its progressive, industrializing, modernizing way that it was before the revolution. True, a constitutional monarchy may have been better than an autocratic one, however, I can never support what Iran became after 1979.

The western influences that started in the 19th century are likely to be strongly influential on the events that took place in the second half of the 20th century. In addition, the excessively anti-religious policies that Reza took between 1921 and 1941, not only marginalizing but outright attacking the highly religious also contributed to the rise of anti-western ideologies in the 1960s. The American influence during the second half of the 1950s and into the 1960s likely also contributed, however, this likely was amplified by the autocratic nature of the Shah monarchy.

Ultimately, the autocrat was replaced by religious dictatorship that has risen. Once again, we can thank the economic colonialism of Britain and America mixed with the opposition of religious fanaticism for this situation.

Revolution!

2011-02-13T19:40:00.000-08:00

The number of protests that are taking place around the world right now are amazing, and invigorating. It is kind of like a dream come true. And for the most part, these protests and in turn, revolutions have succeeded with minimal violence and casualties compared to their historical counter parts. Tunisia and Egypt have both successfully removed the governments in which they were protesting. The future still leaves much left unknown as to what will happen, but so long as the people continue to pay attention to what takes shape, I think we can be assured that what comes about will be some form of true democracy.

Yemen has also been sparked with protests, though I know little about the country. To be honest, I didn't know it existed until it was mentioned in Friends a few years back and I looked it up. Sure enough, it is real. And right now, people are upset. I will try and do some research and give a summary of events, including their causes and if possible the goals.

What truly impressed me when I woke up this morning to find this. The Green movement in Iran is calling for a protest in light of the successes of the protests in Egypt and Tunisia. That is right, the movement that protested after the government of Ahmajinadad refused to step down after losing the election last year. They want to remove.

A quick summary, Iran has been ruled for the last 32 years since a revolution in 1979, by an Islamic Fundamentalist Extremist governing body. Elections are a joke, and those in power are anti-education, anti-modernization, very very anti-western, anti-Israel, anti-freedom. In short, people are kept in place through fear, intimidation and violence. If it doesn't benefit the people controlling the country and their ends, it isn't permitted.

To give you a better understanding of modern Iran and the history leading up to now I will try and get a few posts out summarizing the history of the country over the last 35-40 years or so, and a current overview of what life is like. It isn't very pretty. I don't know which country would be worse to live in, Iran or North Korea. That is a tough call. Here are two decent articles to help you with what is currently happening.

Article 1
Article 2

There are interesting times to be living.

Black History Month

2011-02-06T22:06:00.000-08:00

I am a bit late in posting this, but it is Black History Month. I am making it my goal to read one or two books up on the topic. If you don't know me, I am rather white to say the least. British blood runs through my veins. Luckily, we are all African. Unfortunately, I don't have any reasonably close relatives and I am unduly privileged due to my heritage and where I grew up.

It was pointed out to me that it was black history month by the writer of The Crommunist Manifesto. I am always happy to send people over to his blog, excellent thinker.

The first book on my reading list is Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill. This will come after I am finished The Greatest Show on Earth and hopefully I will have it done before February 12th, Darwin Day, when I am hoping to start On the Origin of Species.

If you want some more books to read for Black History Month I found some recommendations. Here is the Toronto Library's List.

For Children here is another list divided by age/grade groups.

We Are At War!

2011-02-06T21:51:00.000-08:00

Get the men, women and children all ready. We are going to war! You heard me folks. This is not a drill. This is the real thing. First, we had the declaration from the Pope, during his opening remarks on his trip to England.

The pope urged the UK to guard against "aggressive forms of secularism".

Well, my comrades, it seems that the Church of England, known more commonly in Canada by the Anglican Church is also aiming for us.

The Arch Bishop of Canterbury made statements that the Church needs to take a stronger line against Atheists who are out to get them... Well, maybe such dogmatic, backwards institutions do needs to be shaken up and stop influencing policy making. Here is a large exert:

Commissioned by Dr Williams and Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, it says that religion in Britain is under threat from atheists, but admits that the Church faces many internal problems as well, from ageing congregations to rows over homosexuality.

Drawing particular attention to the threat posed by a new movement of militant atheists, led by Dawkins and Hitchens, it says the Church must respond if it is not to be pushed from the public square.

"One of the paradoxes of recent times has been the increasing secularisation of society and attempts to marginalise religion alongside an increasing interest in spiritual issues and in the social and cultural implications of religious faith," says the report, called Challenges for the New Quinquennium.

They damn right need to worry about their stance on homosexuality. The arrogant, hypocritical claim of "love the sinner, not the sin" is disgusting. Secondly, I stand by the statement that calling us "militant" is disturbing and delusional. A militant atheist speaks up, a militant atheist doesn't use weapons, threaten, and kill people. You want militant, I am sorry, militant theists are far more scary, I don't even think I need to bother with examples, you can see them every day on the news.

I think it is important to draw a greater attention as to the social and cultural implications of religious faith. Religion isn't going to go away overnight, in addition, the world continues to become smaller and smaller. Globalization continues, and immigration continues. This means more mixing of people with different beliefs in geographical regions. This means sharing schools with a wider range of religions. For this reason, and many others, schools and government policies need to be secular. They can't take sides on religious issues. Furthermore, education, especially science education, can not have a religious tie. Period. Once you try to rationalize the real world with myths about how the world was created and works, you are going to have to make a decision either to take one or the other. The world is not flat, that has been proven. The sun doesn't revolve around the earth. There was never a global flood. These are facts, we can make these statements completely, and there is more than enough evidence and logic to support them.

Sorry Bishop, but secularization is the only way I can see living peacefully side by side in such a global economy. You can keep your religion, I don't want it. Just keep it out of the government and schools. Go teach Sunday School if you want to, but you have to compete against good Science.

But, if they want a war, they will get one. We will fight it the way atheists have been fighting recently. With honest, open dialogue, making mostly rational and reasonable arguments. We will point out flaws in the arguments being made against us, and remind the Pope, repeatedly, that Hitler was a self-proclaimed Catholic, who still hasn't been excommunicated.

What is Reality?

2011-02-06T02:22:00.000-08:00

In my first year of university, I was living in a dorm on campus. One night I was rather bored and took a white board marker to my window and wrote, in reverse, "Reality if a matter of opinion". Since that time I have come to question and disregard that statement as something that I hold true. Some things, are subjective, I don't question that. Is American Idol good, I will have to say no, but, I know some people who actually enjoy it. So, that is subjective. If I trip I am going to fall down, that is not subjective. Gravity exists. Though, I test this theory every day, I fail to escape its grasp.

Reality is something that can be tested, with evidence. If we really wanted to know if American Idol is a good show, well, we just need a testable definition for what is good. It makes enough money to be put back out each year, so I guess it is good based on some definitions.

The BBC has recently made a short documentary, about an hour long, discussing the search for reality by modern day physicists. It is a wonderful piece of work, and doesn't try to hard to break your head with quantum physics, something I scarcely understand myself, but I am not a physicist. So, if you need a break from your dreary day, please take a look and enjoy.

Definition of Atheism

2011-02-02T19:44:00.000-08:00

Alright, I was reading P.Z. Myers post regarding the criticism that he received over one of his comments made during his presentation in Montreal.

Not familiar with the presentation? I recommend finding it and watching. I rather enjoyed it and suggest watching it. I will add a link when I get a chance.

The criticism is about his dislike for "dictionary Atheists". That is to say, atheists who respond with a dictionary definition of atheism, "I don't believe a god exists", and leaving it there. This is the definition, at least a functional one for atheism. It is also an important one as there are many types of atheists out there, some even believe in funky things as equally as unlikely as gods, such as: ghosts, esp, homeopathy, and fairies.

The useful part of the definition is to counter the claim that being an atheist means that you believe gods don't exist or make the claim that they don't. This is often a response that you get from people when they find out that you are an atheist "you can't prove there is no god!" and then you have to say that you can't prove a negative. However, I have heard the argument that the lack of evidence found over the last, few thousand years is enough to make the claim that lack of evidence is proof enough. At least for a personal god that actually interacts in a noticeable way. Disproving a deistic god would generally be impossible or close enough to it.

But, P.Z. Might be onto something and that is why I normally go by Secular Humanist, but I wear my A proudly. What do you think? Should we try to expand the standard definition of atheism to something more than just the negation of theist?

edit

This is PZ's post

Here is his speech.

I am Reading

2011-02-01T03:59:00.000-08:00

I have been reading a lot recently, maybe that is why I don't update this blog as much as I used to. Unlikely the case, it might be more likely that I don't have much to say. No that is also completely wrong. I just get distracted. I have been keeping up to date with the many blogs and few podcasts that I follow, but I have also been reading a lot of books. I am taking an English class, via distance education, that requires a lot of reading. In addition, I have been highly enjoying my Kindle and thought that I would point out two great books, one that I finished yesterday, and the second I just started and am already a tenth of the way through and just burning through it.

The first is a nice introduction to the philosophy of morals and ethics. It is called, Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics by Simon Blackburn. One problem that many atheists find when discussing the philosophy of morals is that, philosophy likes to reference philosophers. This can be rather tedious, because you often find yourself either dealing with a relativist or an absolutist. The relativist falls into the camp that the concept of even trying to find objective morality is useless because you find yourself dealing with mutually exclusive moral beliefs between people, therefore objective morality is a myth. The second, you often find the claim that Morality ultimately determined by God.

Blackburn does a decent job examining morality and ethics while trying to take on the challenges of Relativism, Scepticism and modern Scientific discoveries, such as evolution and evolutionary psychology. I do suggest reading the book, he does a decent job, but I think Sam Harris will challenge him on the claim that science itself can make no claims as to what is morally right and morally wrong.

The second book is The New Atheism: Taking A Stand For Science and Reason by Victor Stenger. I didn't know what I was going to get into with this title, but Stenger is often referenced in many conversations I have seen in the atheist community, but I haven't read any of his works before. The introduction to the book did a good job in describing to me what I am getting myself into.

The purpose of the books seems to be a combination of clearing up confusion as to what, in the media, has been deemed "New Atheism" or as it is cheerfully being re-dubbed "GNU Atheism", an analysis of the criticisms raised by critics of the major works of the "GNU Atheists", particularly those of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens, finally, it is going to be looking at the most recent arguments in favor of the existence of God/s. The book is very accessiable, and even if you haven't read the works, I haven't read those referenced regarding Dennett's for example, he provides a nice summary. So, it is a nice book for atheists who are curious what is being written and discussed, or those who are trying to understand what all the fuss is about.

I recommend both books if you want to add to your To Read Mountain. Back to my reading.

Dialog with Atheists? No, more preaching.

2011-01-30T01:57:00.000-08:00

I think the Pope is missing something here. Seriously, is he incapable of seeing anything for another point of view? Is he really that arrogant?

What am I talking about?...

The Vatican has sponsoring a series of talks to have a dialog with atheists. Okay, cool, no problem there. It is being held in Paris in March as a 2 day event. Alright, no problem. In addition to this, it is being held at various locations throughout the city, even at a university, okay.

After this the details get a bit foggy, there really isn't much in the press release. Here is what we have to go on though.

The events will conclude with a party for youth in the courtyard of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, followed by prayer and meditation inside the cathedral.

Okay, I can handle there being a party at Notre Dame, saves on costs, considering the church is sponsoring this. But, "prayer and meditation inside the cathedral", this isn't a dialog with atheists then since the prayer is superfluous and I don't know many atheists actively meditate.

In addition, it is aimed at "youth". If you are having a "dialog" you normally need a two way conversation between people who know what they are talking about. I am not expecting this to be a "dialog" if they are going to be having a party with youths.

Finally,

"I believe that the church should also today open a sort of `courtyard of the gentiles' where men can in some way hook on to God, without knowing Him and before having gained access to His mystery,"Benedict said in Dec. 2009.

If the primary purpose of this program is to convert and proselytize, you aren't going to be having a dialog. It is a one way conversation about trying to drive the fear in hell into people. I think the Pope needs to learn that a conversation requires both a listening side, and a speaking side. Most atheists at least have a decent understanding of what Catholicism preaches. Many atheists, especially those that call themselves Atheist, actually have a better understanding of the bible than many Chatholics.

It is no wonder they are going after youths.

Disbelief in the New Testament

2011-01-24T04:32:00.001-08:00

I made a post a while ago about free will. It generally discussed how, when dealing with the god of the Bible or Koran you can't really have free will. In turn, I concluded that non-believers should be left alone because it must be "God's Plan", if such a being exists, to not believe. That and most of us wont be swayed without evidence to the contrary. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence".

Good news! Someone decided to make a rather good summary of the quotes from the New Testament regarding God's intervention creating non-believers. That is right, there are a number of quotes that show just how much God wants people to go to Hell :) No, seriously, there are a number of quotes. I apologize for not sharing them earlier. I had been more dumbfounded by the statements regarding being obedient peons and not questioning those ruling over you. That and the sexist bigoted comments of Paul. Not to mention the disgusting concept of Hell and the insane view of justice that Jesus spouted. So, really, it was must first time reading the Bible cover to cover. I do plan to read it again, maybe I will find more tidbits to share. If you are interested in specific requests you can always e-mail me and ask, or leave a comment.

So, the video, without further ado. Please enjoy.

Militant Canadians

2011-01-15T05:03:00.001-08:00

I have actually been avoiding reading articles on this topic, but I thought I should finally get around to it. It seems that there have been reports confirming a number of Canadians, twelve or more, who are training with the Al Quada in Pakistan to return to Canada to commit terrorist acts. The article makes sure to point out that some of these people are Caucasians who have converted to Islam.

I remember watching an interview with an American, caucasian also, who converted to Islam and moved to Isreal I believe. The interview was in documentary Root of All Evil. The guy interviewed was rather frustrating to hear and very much obsessed with the women in North America not being forced to cover themselves up and act like slaves to the men. He was constantly calling them "your women" as if we owned them.

I do not know many people who convert religions, it is actually very rare to happen statistically. The few that I have seen interviewed tend towards the more fundamentalist side of things. It could be that those interviewed are more the fundamentalist types... so, that might just be a biased. Either way, it is not surprising that some people within Canada tend towards religious extremes. When that happens, you get people reminding us what the worst aspects of religion are.

The problem is, even the "moderates" of religion tend to have little affect in talking down the fundamentalists. Those in the fundamentalist camp look at the "moderates" as not true members of their religion. They don't take the books to heart. The worst part is, the books they call authority from are disgusting books filled with contradictions like no tomorrow. If you want a good example Project Reason made a nice poster with the Bible. Now remember, the first half of the Bible, and it is questionable the second half, is considered valid for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Mormonism and Bah'hai I am not overly certain about.

So, what I encourage is the spreading of Secularism to help mitigate irrational extremism, and make the world a happier place. So, here is my link for you all to Project Reason, also I will through at you the Center for Inquiry. I know they have a branch in Egypt :)

Take care and have a blasphemous day.

CBC Marketplace on Homeopathy

2011-01-15T01:25:00.000-08:00

CBC Marketplace did a decent job examining homeopathy and I think they were pretty kind considering how stupid, dangerous and disgustingly delusional people can be. Let me get something straight. I don't support someone's right to sell something to someone as medicine because that person thinks that it works. I also don't like the government permitting untested or even worse tested and proven ineffective forms of treatment to the general public.

If someone is making the claim that something will cure something when it has been clearly tested not to work, that should be an offense. Why? Because it can harm and even kill people. A homeopathic vaccine for mumps and polio not only endangers the child that is consuming it, but it endangers others because it reduces herd immunity. If a child gets polio or the mumps and has to go to the hospital now every person who hasn't been immunized is at risk, some who are too young to receive the vaccinations. This has happened.

For those who don't know what Homeopathy is, homeopathy has two basic principals. The first is like cures like. It is known as Hahnemann's Law of Similars. An example is, if you are vomiting you should take something that induces vomiting to cure it. This is a very old and very stupid idea, it doesn't work. If I am sneezing I should sniff pepper? Give me a break.

The second idea that homeopathy follows is, the more diluted the better. If you look at a homeopathic medicine you will see a "C" rating, this shows you how diluted the substance is. In the homeopathic mindset water has a "memory" and the active ingredient in a homeopathic substance should be diluted in water, the more, the better. You will commonly find things with a 10C to 30C rating. To give you an idea 6C is the safe level for arsenic in US drinking water, and at 30C you would have to consume more water than is on the planet to get one molecule of the "active" ingredient into your body.

As the show done by Marketplace shows, even a university chemist couldn't detect the active ingredient in one of the pills being examined. Effectively, it was a sugar pill. Now, the homeopath who was interviewed, the person who runs the company making the pills, concluded that modern technology just isn't effective enough to detect this active ingredient. Yet, she claims that it is sufficient to be enough to actively affect the human body. If you don't see what is wrong with this idea, I don't know.

Yet, the Health Canada is giving legitimacy to this bad idea and is helping perpetuate it. This endangers people, not only those who subscribe to it. If anyone is aware of a campaign to convince Health Canada to drop its support and make it illegal to sell these products under false pretenses, please pass along the details. If not, I might need to start a letter writing campaign.

Time to put you to work.

2011-01-15T00:08:00.000-08:00

Alright everyone. Stop what you are doing. Got it! Stop! You will need about 15 minutes. Now go over to the Crommunist Manifesto and read his posts regarding censorship and watch his videos for Friday (always fun). After that, come back here.

Welcome back. Did you enjoy the videos? Did you read what he wrote? Generally speaking he makes a good point on topics regarding censorship and racism, so I recommend subscribing to his feed if you already aren't.

Alright, next up, I got this great link from Living After Faith. It is a survey being done about Atheists and Sex. Two awesome things. It isn't the longest survey, so please take the time to fill it out. That is, if you are a non-believer. Otherwise, it kind of defeats the purpose of the survey. I do admit that it is a bit hard to fill out if you were never a believer, but they still want you input.

Now that your survey is done, I have another task for you. Don't you love all this work I am making you do today? Don't worry, this one is also pretty quick. But, it will cost you a few buck, well, anything that you can donate to be honest. The Atheist Alliance is helping fund a secular school in Uganda. Why is that important? Lets just say that Uganda has a lot of problems with fundamentalist religion influencing society and policy. We need to help break down the walls of intolerance and ignorance. This is the country that recently passed a law that makes being gay an offense punishable by death. So, please give and help make a change in a country that can use the help.

That is it for this post. I shall put up another in a bit. I have some reading to do.

Good News!

2011-01-13T06:19:00.000-08:00

I just want to point out that this was rather cool. It honestly isn't very often that I see good news coming out of Egypt. Back around New Years one of the Christian churches was attacked by radical Muslims, not the best thing. Honestly, from what I have heard about some of the school books being used in Egypt and the misrepresentation and intolerance being taught, it isn't surprising.

However, it seems that one group of Muslims is stepping up and actually formed a human wall around the church to protect the Christians for their mass. It is actually rather awesome and I count these guys as heroes. As one blogger put it, freedom from religion requires first freedom of religion. Those attacking the church would probably do the same for an atheist or secular humanist gathering as well. So, good job Egypt.

I Agree With Harper?

2011-01-06T23:01:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I can remember agreeing to something that the Prime Minister of Canada said. I am at a loss for an example. Last year alone his government has ruined the Canadian census, totally destroyed downtown Toronto with his stupid G20 meeting, I still haven't seen a good reason to hold it there. They continue to fail to create a good action plan for global warming and because of his actions we lost the bid for the UN Security Council seat. I am sure I am missing things.

However, he did make a good statement today aimed at the RCMP. The short story was that back in August 25 two men were arrested on terror charges in Ottawa. These men happened to be Muslim, however if you aren't aware, this is during Ramadan. The following day the RCMP and the Ottawa city police held a meeting with members of the Ottawa Muslim community to assure them that the arrest was not because their specific community was under unfair suspicion.

Harper's comments regarding this event and meeting are nice to see:

In fairness this is an operational matter for the RCMP and I wouldn't pretend to know all the details and aspects of the story. But the general approach that this government would expect to see (from law enforcement agencies) is that the law, our important laws, are enforced every day of the year.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Police+criticized+apologizing+Ottawa+Muslims+Ramadan+arrests/4072457/story.html#ixzz1AKabKhkz

In short, the law of this country should not cradle to political correctness and no group should be babied because implementation of the law should be equal and unbiased. Every person has to obey the same laws, in the same fashion, and no group should be permitted exceptions to those laws for ethnic, cultural, or religious reasons.

A Virtue I Support

2011-01-05T01:28:00.000-08:00

Here is a nice video that I found was browsing the YouTubes. Yes, that means I am back at work regularly, which means you will probably see more posts.

In short, embrace uncertainty. Willing to admit that you have no clue, but wanting to discover is far better than any faith you can have. It is a nice video, please enjoy it.

A new form of protest...

2010-12-30T08:57:00.000-08:00

No one likes the health care system. In fact, I have never heard anyone say that they lived in a place with good health care. There are never enough doctors, the wait times are too long, or it is too expensive and the wait times are too long. Generally speaking you have to wait and/or pay too much money. Here in British Columbia we normally have to wait a fair bit, and often the price of medical insurance is pretty steep. Extended health care coverage and payments to the medical service plan aren't cheap, but I guess they could be worse.

Well, one guy over in Kalowna thought that it was too much, the waiting part at least. He was in the emergency room waiting to see a doctor, after 45 minutes he left and then came back. He insisted on seeing a doctor right away and threatened to drive his vehicle through the building if they didn't let him. A man of his word, he did just that. He drove is old Chevy Blazer through the double doors of the emergency room and into the hallway of the hospital. Promptly he was arrested on several charges. I think he is going to be seeing a doctor soon, just, a different kind of doctor.

It never did say what the man was in the emergency room for. He was obviously able to walk and to operate a vehicle. His speech wasn't inhibited as he is no being charged with uttering death threats. I have been to emergency rooms before. A 45 minute wait isn't all that bad, especially if you aren't there with a life threatening condition. The less dangerous your state, the lower your priority normally is. I think the longest I had to wait was 3 hours, but that was in Alberta. Still, a nurse usually has checked me out within that time and I have a general idea what I am getting into.

I am sure many people have wanted to state loudly the condition of our health care system. But seriously, the guy should try and visit a hospital in most of Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia. If he still thinks the cost and wait time for the services provided here in Canada are bad, maybe he should be talking with the other doctors.

A nice alternative

2010-12-28T14:05:00.000-08:00

I am on vacation now, so I haven't taken much time to post here. I do have something I hope to compile and put together today, we will find out if that gets done. But, I was walking with my sister the other day and she made the off comment that she actually like churches. I was a bit shocked by this, but I didn't push the topic. It was Christmas after all, eve, but close enough. Since then I have been thinking of great alternatives that can be used with the income and resources used up by churches, just the buildings and staff employment. Here are some of my ideas:

Libraries
Schools
Daycares
Medical Centers
Homeless Shelters
Community Centers
Science Popularizing Centers (in Vancouver we have Science World)
Soup Kitchens

What other ideas do you have that would make a better use of the resources and space used up by churches in your communities?

Great Speech

2010-12-27T08:14:00.000-08:00

At the 2010 National Convention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation Ayaan Hirsi Ali was presented the "Emperor has no Clothes" award. The award is named after the great fable/fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes". Ayaan Hirsi Ali is probably best known for her book "Infidel" but also has been avoiding being killed for her writing of the screenplay "Submission", the documentary that got Theo van Gogh killed.

The speech that she gave in acceptance of the award is truly great and I highly recommend watching it. The total video is about 40 minutes long, so get a drink and enjoy it. She makes several references to the Qur'an and gives you the numbers so you can look them up if you truly want. From my memory of them they are all quite accurate, though I would like to know the reference she makes to what women get in "Paradise" regarding grapes and dates. If anyone happens to know it, please pass it along.

Here is the video, it is a WMV so you might need VLC or Windows Media Player to watch, sorry.
And here is the page that has the other videos from the conference as well, link.

Atheist in the Quran!

2010-12-23T03:49:00.000-08:00

I finally finished the Quran. I have to say that I was a little surprised when I saw this. The translation I have is a bit old, from the 1939, I think, by John Fabian and Yusuf Ali, so when I saw this surah translated I was kind of surprised, it made me grin.

109. The Disbelievers, Atheists

Say: O ye that reject Faith!
I worship not that which ye worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
To you be your Way, and to me mine.

I have to say this was one of the few suhar's that didn't make me... upset. Besides the fact that Atheists don't worship anything, don't even bother trying to argue that we worship science, for a sixth-seventh century illiterate man it is a rather progressive thought. You leave us alone, and we will leave you alone. Regardless of the countless statements that we are going to hell, and a few parts where we should be killed, this one here I can handle. Leave us to our thought and don't interfere and we will leave you to yours. I think even Hitchens would agree with that one. Keep your religious beliefs to yourself. Sadly, doesn't work that way.

Oh well, that is done. I am trying to decide between Buddhism next (I found a nice intro book to start me off) or the Book of Mormon, any votes?

We Can/Can't Know?

2010-12-23T01:14:00.000-08:00

A while ago I stumbled across a group proclaiming that the world was going to end on May 21, 2011. They had a great little website. In their website, they have a nice quote about blowing the trumpet and that the bible guarantees the world is coming to an end. Their evidence is basically quote mining from the Bible gone astray. They also make reference to scare tactics from back in 1988 (another time the world was supposed to end if I am not mistaken).

Well, they have another website now! http://www.wecanknow.com/

It is more professional, and they are going to be putting up billboards to warn us! Once you get that kind of money involved you know they are serious. They also have a section where you can submit your own images of you spreading the word of May 21, 2011. I am thinking about holding a party on May 22, 2011. But, don't worry. Reason, and mockery, have already started. The We Can't Know side is already here. The guys at Ask an Atheist have set up a countdown website ready for the backpedaling. I guess they don't want the guys to get out of this stupidity unscathed. I am on the, it wont happen side.

If I am wrong, and Jesus does return to squish us on May 21, 2011 I will admit that might make me step towards that team, but otherwise, I will enjoy my blasphemy every day.

Take care! And Don't Take Life to Seriously.

Happy HumanLight!

2010-12-22T23:09:00.000-08:00

Today is December 23rd, which means it is time for everyone to celebrate HumanLight.

So, lets take a moment just to relax, smile and enjoy yourself today. I myself shall be heading over to visit some of my siblings and friends today. So, how about a happy story in honor of this fun day.

I am sure all of you know by now, but it has officially been signed into law. The U.S. has repealed the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" garbage and it is now okay to serve openly about your sexuality in the U.S. military. About time, hey?

Just a comment on the Quran

2010-12-22T07:57:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to comment for anyone who is interested. I am about 4/5 of the way through the Quran, Qur'an, Koran, however you want to spell it, as a comparison to The Bible, it is no worse or better. There are actually 2 parts I have found that are "nicer" than the Bible. I don't recall seeing God kill all the firstborn of Egypt, that is a plus I guess. Also for the Golden Calf story they didn't slaughter a good chunk of the Israelites.

Why is it not better as a whole? Well, first and foremost it calls its authority from the original books. So, those stories are still technically valid in my mind. They are retold, in part, and sometimes altered (slightly), several times each. The retelling of Noah, Moses, Abraham, Lot (Lut), and Solomon happen many times, each time slightly different. Oh, but the story of Lot is actually worse, if that is possible, Lot's wife is never even given the chance to leave the city. She is ordered to stay behind, and Lot, a good follower of Allah, doesn't question this.

The second thing that I find different, besides it being stated many times that God never had a son and Jesus was basically a human sacrifice, not a sacrifice of part of himself, is the fact that Hell is throughout. As I mentioned earlier, Hell isn't really mentioned in the Old Testament. Well, the threat of Hell is on almost every page, if not multiple times. There is even the occasional mention of Atheists going to Hell :) the next time I find one I will be sure to give you the location, but it is less common. It is far more common talking about "unbelievers" as other religious persons.

The normal argument to listen to the words of the Qur'an go something like this:

Preacher: "Who created the Earth and You?"
Unbeliever: "God..."
Preacher: "If he created you then why can he not bring you back from the dead and put you in a paradise? It is child's play to him."
Unbeliever: "I guess that makes sense."
Preacher: "Then do what I say!"
Believer: "Sign me up!"

Okay, so that is a little inaccurate, but that is the basics of the argument as I have interpreted it. True, I am a biased reader. But, from my knowledge of Atheists who would actually read it, there isn't a valid argument within the book for believing the book. The is no great revelations, you get better morals from reading Robert Munch, or Harry Potter, or watching the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Actually, lets make Saved by the Bell the general guide for morality. Sure, there is lying and cheating, but it normally backfires. Lots of lessons on accepting others for who they are and sticking by your friends. What do you say?

No Free Will for You!

2010-12-22T05:20:00.001-08:00

I have often found the concept of free will to be something of a joke when you place it in the view of what has come to be the monotheistic Abrahamic God as portrayed the "holy" books. We have a God that is all-knowing and all-powerful. This includes knowledge and plans for the future that can not be undercut by the actions or views of humanity, regardless of what you do. Destiny is inescapable. Once you are created then you are destined to either "heaven" or "hell". Let me give you two examples. The first from the Quran, Surah 36:

5. It is a Revelation sent down by (Him), the Exalted in Might, Most Merciful.
6. In order that thou mayest admonish a people, whose fathers had received no admonition, and who therefore remain heedless (of the Signs of Allah..
7. The Word is proved true against the greater part of them: for they do not believe.
8. We have put yokes round their necks right up to their chins, so that their heads are forced up (and they cannot see).
9. And We have put a bar in front of them and a bar behind them, and further, We have covered them up; so that they cannot see.
10. The same is it to them whether thou admonish them or thou do not admonish them: they will not believe.

My very rough, quick and simplistic summary. Those who are born into a religion that is not Islam are destined by Allah to end up burning for eternity because Allah wills them to be unchangeable in their faith. This actually is pretty true. Conversion from one religious belief to another, for those who truly believe their religion, is uncommon. Most people get indoctrinated into their faith simply by random circumstance of being born into a religious family. You almost always follow the religion of your parents, if your parents are strongly religious. True, this isn't always the case, but more often then not.

The second example is from the Old Testament, one of my favorite examples of God's "Love" for the innocent. Exodus, lets use 10-11 for example. So Moses is pleading for the Pharaoh to let is people go, most of the plagues have already been cast,

24Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the Lord. Even your women and children may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.”

25But Moses said, “You must allow us to have sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the Lord our God. 26Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind. We have to use some of them in worshiping the Lord our God, and until we get there we will not know what we are to use to worship the Lord.”

27But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. 28Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.”

29“Just as you say,” Moses replied, “I will never appear before you again.”

onto 11

1Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. 2Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” 3(The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)

4So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. 5Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. 7But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. 8All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

9The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.” 10Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

And after that God goes forth (or an Angle of God depending on how you read it, my version says God) and slaughters the first born children in Egypt. Babies and children, potentially adults as well as it is ALL first borns. Wouldn't the Pharaoh have been a first born... maybe an older sibling or two died making him the next in line. Either way, God interfered with human free-will ultimately forcing many to die and suffer, just to make an example out of a people. If it was just the Pharaoh he wanted to make an example of, he could have found a much more humane way to do so.

That being said, if you take these "holy" books literally, and believe the stories in them happened, and believe that those who don't follow these books and believe in these Gods will end up in some form of "Hell" for eternity then I just don't know. Doesn't sound humane to me. Actually, I think "Hell" is one of the worst ideas someone came up with,and one of the least just. How can eternal punishment be fitting for any crime. Seriously, I wouldn't justify that for anyone. And an all powerful being must be able to come up with a good shrink that could even fix Hitler, or the Pope. But, eternal worship also sounds like punishment to me.

One step forward, a hundred back

2010-12-22T02:33:00.000-08:00

I try to be fair and even handed with my criticism... okay, maybe not. I am biased as all hell. Especially when the person I am upset with seems to be immune to civil justice. We can bring in war criminals, and those who commit crimes against humanity, up until they are the head of a religious organization that systematically is causing harm to humanity and the planet. Once again the he is back.

I think I mentioned earlier that the Catholic Church was making some strides forward, well, they have taken another step back. In fact, they are now running back and shouting insults and pointing fingers at anyone and everyone. When I mean everyone, I literally mean, everyone. The Pope is now blaming society for the ills of the Catholic Church. Let me pause there and start with baby steps, I will try not to get hasty.

Earlier this month the Pope had made baby steps towards modernizing its view of Condom use, however, the statement made by the Pope it seems has been twisted and turned and confused. Supposedly this is partially due to the inept-ability of the senior members of the Vatican to understand modern media. I could only wish they would stand down and let a younger generation take over. Preferably one that was a bit more, humane. But, in the meantime, we have a clarification regarding the Pope's stance on condom use.

In this regard, it must be noted that the situation created by the spread of AIDS in many areas of the world has made the problem of prostitution even more serious. Those who know themselves to be infected with HIV and who therefore run the risk of infecting others, apart from committing a sin against the sixth commandment are also committing a sin against the fifth commandment – because they are consciously putting the lives of others at risk through behaviour which has repercussions on public health. In this situation, the Holy Father clearly affirms that the provision of condoms does not constitute "the real or moral solution" to the problem of AIDS and also that "the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality" in that it refuses to address the mistaken human behaviour which is the root cause of the spread of the virus. In this context, however, it cannot be denied that anyone who uses a condom in order to diminish the risk posed to another person is intending to reduce the evil connected with his or her immoral activity. In this sense the Holy Father points out that the use of a condom "with the intention of reducing the risk of infection, can be a first step in a movement towards a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality." This affirmation is clearly compatible with the Holy Father’s previous statement that this is "not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection."

If I am understanding this correctly. Let me summarize it in these simple points.
- Prostitution is bad
- Condoms are bad because they prevent people from getting pregnant
- HIV is bad
- If someone is engaging in prostitution and have HIV a condom should be used to prevent HIV from spreading.

The logic is that it lessens the evil, slightly. They still consider condoms sinful. There are a couple of problems with this. First, just last year the Pope was saying that condom use would increase the spread of HIV, not reduce it. I have also heard rumor that some members of the Catholic Church were reportedly saying that condoms can give someone HIV/AIDS, however, I don't have a reference for that statement.

Now, the second big problem of this is that HIV has a very nice period of being able to lie dormant and undetectable, especially when you are in Sub-Saharan Africa and don't have access to regular testing facilities. The incubation period can last 2 weeks, after that you simply have symptoms that can be written off as influenza. Condoms have been shown to reduce transmission of the virus by 85% with regular use. It isn't perfect, but it would also reduce the chance of having a child. The chances of a child receiving HIV from their mother who has it is 25%, that is significant to say the least.

In short, the stance of the Roman Catholic Church on condom use is uncivilized, barbaric, and in my view evil. It spreads mis-information, causes unnecessary births, there are too many people on this planet already, and is backwards. You think that using a condom is preventing people from seeing sex as an act of love... seriously? This coming from people who are supposed to be celibate. Get over yourselves.

Now, the fun doesn't stop there. The pompous fool decides he needs to make me more angry. The short form is, the Pope blamed society, particularly secular, on the cause of the priestly pedophiles.

First he asks how did the abuse happen? This is coming from the guy who was supposed to investigate and discipline those who committed abuse of the children in the church... right.

''We must ask ourselves what we can do to repair as much as possible the injustice that has occurred,'' he said. ''We must ask ourselves what was wrong in our proclamation, in our whole way of living the Christian life, to allow such a thing to happen.''

How can you repair the damage? How about having all those guilty of child abuse/rape turn themselves into the proper authorities, instead of helping them hide. Let justice be served. Fess up all those documents that you are hiding and help the authorities serve justice instead of hiding the crimes.

Okay, I am just going to let you read before I get too mad. Please let me share with you his reasoning for the problem of pedophilia in the Church.

''There is a market in child pornography that seems in some way to be considered more and more normal by society,'' he said on Monday. ''The psychological destruction of children, in which human persons are reduced to articles of merchandise, is a terrifying sign of the times.''

He also said he heard from bishop after bishop in developing countries how sex tourism threatened an entire generation, while the problem of drugs was extending ''its octopus tentacles around the entire world''.

He criticised moral relativism from the 1970s that discarded absolutes, leaving only a ''better than'' and ''worse than''. ''Morality is replaced by a calculus of consequences, and in the process it ceases to exist.''

"considered more and more normal by society" What the fuck is up with that? How the hell? Who do you know would ever consider child pornography to be normal? What the fuck is he up to. Canada recently passed Sex Tourism laws.

"Reducing person to articles of merchandise"? Like the slavery that is condoned by your bible. Or how about telling children to shut up when a priest abuses them.

He also goes after Moral relativism? So an idea that started getting credence in the second half of the 20th century, something that the church doesn't believe in because it goes against the Absolute Rule of God and Papal Infallibility is helping encourage priests to rape children. Can someone help me here? I am without question a strong advocate of moral relativity, but there are still some things that are pretty damn evil. I think raping children under your charge and then telling them to shut up is pretty darn evil. Not to mention, helping cover it up to protect the image of your organization.

I shall say this simply, the Roman Catholic Church needs to be either shut down, or placed under a governing body that will systematically, thoroughly, and even-handedly investigate and prosecute every person in that organization that has committed crimes.

I was told by one person that they think the organization will get better quickly with the introduction of new blood. But, if the current bishops continue to help cover up for what is going on now, there is no way they are about to let themselves go to prison, they will need to go along with the priests for helping cover up the crimes that have been committed. It is a vicious cycle. Unless one of them is will to step up and say... martyr themselves, for the children, I don't think we will find substantial change without an outside force making it happen.

Happy Winter Solstice!

2010-12-21T05:19:00.001-08:00

Today is the Winter Solstice for 2010. It was also complimented by a nice lunar eclipse I am told. However, considering that I live in Vancouver, Canada all I had was cloud cover with a some rain on the side. So, no lunar eclipse. I did see some nice pictures of it though. It made me even more sad for having missed it.

What is the solstice? For those who aren't aware, it is the shortest day of the year. As in, the shortest amount of sunlight if you are in the northern hemisphere. Though, for some poor people they have 24 hours of darkness this time of year, and it lasts for more than 24 hours. The flip side of the coin is, during the summer, we get lots of sunlight. I don't know which is better. Maybe I should move to around the equator where the days are more evenly balanced... I think the heat would get to me.

So, the great news is that today is one of the most celebrated days across almost all human cultures. Lots of celebrations. The most famous that I know is Yule, from the Germanic cultures.

Wikipedia lists almost 40 different observances of this time of year. Check them out, some of them are rather interesting. I really recommend the Sol Invictus and Mummer's Dance.

More Love?

2010-12-19T03:31:00.001-08:00

I wrote a little while ago about the pending court case regarding the status of Polygamy in BC and Canada. The court case has started and recently taken a break for the holidays. Lets take a quick look over what is being discussed.

One article on the subject that supports the removal of the anti-polygamy law takes an interesting look. It suggests that economically speaking it might be beneficial to permit polygamy. Not that surprising. It also ends with a nice discussion that basically says, if polygamy is legal that doesn't mean that everyone is going to end up into a marriage with multi-partners.

This article from the CBC gives a great rebuttal of the argument against multiple marriages based on abuse. Even with that argument that abuse does happen in all forms of relationships, I don't know if there has been, or can be, enough evidence to state if polygamy leads to more cases of abuse or not. We have anecdotal evidence, but we would need to find a way to make unbiased and widely sampled analysis with definite testable points to determine which argument is true. I don't think we will be able to achieve either one. Plus, we would need to be able to control all the variables that might be different, in the case of polygamy in Bountiful practiced by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I am doing to suggest that the religious and social practices of that community also have something to do with it.

Regarding the last point, I offer biased, unsupported, first hand accounts.

If you prefer reading the province regarding polygamy harming women and children, here is an article on that.

I have finally made up my mind on the issue,though I am sure I could be swayed various ways. Lets start with a quick history lesson. When Canada was first founded and made an independent country polygamy was not a crime. Back in the late 19th century the Mormons were being persecuted in the United States and some of them wanted to come to Canada. John A. McDonald permitted them to come if they did not practice polygamy. A few years later the Mounties reported that polygamy was indeed being practiced and in 1890 the anit-polygamy law was passed. The Church of Latter Day Saints did renounce the practice of polygamy in 1890, however the Fundamentalist Church in Bountiful does continue such a practice.

The history out of the way, the law was created as a response to a religious practice, but not against the religion as a whole. One of the great fears that if the law is struck down Canada would become a "polygamy magnet". This sounds like general over-exaggeration. It is similar to the fear that people said when Canada was going to legalize gay marriage, and the same thing if they legalized marijuana. True, if they do legalize it, some people will use the law. But, just like the laws against prostitution, they are making criminals out of people for their life-style and in doing so, making them unable to gain protection and aid from society when they need it. Women who are in abusive relationships end up in illegal abusive relationships, just as whom who are being extorted and abused at work are in an illegal occupation.

In addition to this, I think that it will be difficult to legalize polygamy for a couple of reasons, the most important will be property and divorce laws, secondly, custody battles. I am sure there are others. But what we have to realize here is, that when dealing with polygamy we are traditionally looking at one man with many wives. We just need to junk the law and permit many forms of marriage. one women and many men, many women and many men. The combinations can be limitless. It just has to be a matter of consenting adults permitting to be married together.

Now, if we do legalize it, I still think it should be regulated. What kind of regulations am I referring to? Consent. It is possible that at first the marriage might just be between 2 people A and B. After awhile, B decides they want to marry C. Before B and C can get married A must be aware of the marriage and give their legal consent. Lets pretend A did give their consent. Now A, B and C have a relationship, both A and C are married to B, but A and C aren't necessarily married, however do hold some form of legal connection. A little more time passes, A and B really like D and want to add them to their relationship formally. D agrees to marry both A and B, but they need C to get their approval for such a union because it would affect them.

The main thing is that, any addition or subtraction from the addition of anyone to this "marriage" would require legal consent of anyone else in this relationship. Even if it is just one person with multiple partners, to make it legal, each existing partner should have a say in the situation, either they agree to the union, or they divorce the polygamist. Each existing partner should be permitted a say in the legal status of the relationship. Beyond that, I wouldn't have any problem.

I have no problem with the existence of polygamous relationships, I am not about to enter one. But, in my imaginary world, if I was in a polygamous relationship and one of my partners wanted to marry someone I wasn't willing to tolerate I wouldn't handle that. It is one thing with your partner having a friend that you don't like, it is another for them to marry that friend. That would end a relationship for polygamous-me.

That is my conclusion, legal polygamy, with restrictions on it, and very careful updating of the rest of the civil laws in the Canadian books.

Time for a Victory Party?

2010-12-19T01:08:00.000-08:00

I thought it was a misunderstanding. On my Facebook account a friend commented that the U.S. Senate actually voted to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". There was no way that was going to happen. Maybe it was just another judge ruling or something. But, I checked the news this evening and there it is.

of coarse, Fox News has a poll on the topic.

Will Repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Have an Effect on America’s Ability to Defend Itself?
No -- Being gay is about someone's sexual preference, not their patriotism, acceptance of duty and their love of country.
Undecided -- We're in a war in Afghanistan, and I'm not sure that this is the right time to undo something that will affect our men and women in combat.
Yes -- At the core of an effective military is trust, and allowing a lifestyle that might cause some members of our military to feel uncomfortable cuts to the heart of that trust.
Other (post a comment)

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/12/18/decide-dont-ask-dont-tell-military-gays/#ixzz18Xzf1euh

I am happy to say when I look at the results currently No is at 59.34% and No is at 35.85%. When I first voted Yes was at 59% and No around 38%. Go Yes!

As it has been pointed out, this isn't the stupidest thing that needs to be properly repealed and equal rights in the United States is a long ways off. It isn't like equality, this includes for sexual preference, is listed under the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights... oh wait, it is. Article 2, "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind..." I do believe sexual preference falls under "any kind". If that isn't blunt enough how about Article 1, "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."?

You do know that you voted for the document didn't you United States?

Britain, Sweden and Interpol "Fuck You"

2010-12-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

I am going to try and make this quick and sweet, but let me get to the point. The fact that the governments of Britain and Sweden with the aid of Interpol jumped after Julian Assange over rape charges so quickly and effectively, are holding him without bail, in solitary confinement before questioning but can not deal with other rape charges with that kind of effectiveness *cough* Catholic Church *cough* let alone the thousands of other rape victims in Europe, it is disgusting to show such action over that one case while being ineffective in all the others. Naomi Wolf says it really nicely. Yes, if there are charges he should have to face up to them and go to court. But the way this one case is being dealt with in such a manner, can only be seen as politically motivated, which you really can't say otherwise can you?

As for the governments and corporate bodies attacking Wikileaks, same message, "Fuck You". If you are going to attack Wikileaks then you should attack every publishing body that is reprinting the material, like the New York Times for example. Yes, some of the material may have been gained through illegal means, but the publication of that material is protected under basic freedom of the press. Those who gave the material to the press may be up for some charges, but the press itself is a body that needs to be protected and Wikileaks falls under that jurisdiction. I would be afraid of the consequences if it was successfully shut down for publishing materials that were credible.

I also like transparency in the actions of governing bodies. I am looking at you Harper.

Thank you for your time.

P.S. If there is a representative of Visa or Master Card who read this I am contemplating canceling my credit cards over this.

I miss my pancakes

2010-12-13T21:24:00.001-08:00

The sign is still up at IHOP. This is sad, because I miss my delicious breakfast food. So, I am going to have to make sure they know that I am upset and my boycott actually exists. I have composed a letter that I will be mailing in the morning to make sure they know that they have lost this customer. If you are interested, here is my lovely letter. I have tried to be polite, but I also wanted to keep it to one page. Giving an education lesson on such a topic is rather hard to squeeze into one page. But, most people don't have the time or energy to read anything longer than one page. If you want to read it, here is the working draft. I might tweak it over the night to clean up any grammar errors and to make it flow more. I figure we should shut up this stupid War on Christmas business. You want to say "Marry Christmas" go for it! Just don't get all huffy if I chose to reply with "Seasons Greetings" or "Happy Kwanzaa!" Though, I am more likely to say, "Marry Christmas" back, or something along the lines of "Joyous Human Light". I can be cheeky if I want to. So, here it is.

To the manager of the IHOP at 6780 No. 3 Road, Richmond, BC

I would like to start by complimenting your staff for the service that I have always received when visiting your establishment. They have always been cheerful, friendly and welcoming. The service, though sometimes slowed by a long wait, has always been great as well. The food is exceptional and delicious. Until recently I have been a regular customer and always happy to bring my friends and family with me when possible.

Regrettably, I am unable to continue to visit your restaurant. A little over a week ago your sign started to read "KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS". I love Christmas and celebrate it every year. However, the sign is very easily interpreted to be in support of one of the sides of what the media has deemed the "War on Christmas" and in turn against the use of such phrases as "Happy Holidays". Richmond is a very multi-cultural community and I am a strong supporter of tolerance and understanding. Since the sign, in my opinion, seems to be aggressive towards statements such as "Seasons Greetings" and the recognition that there are many religious holidays that are celebrated during December, I can not bring myself to enter your establishment.

Almost every major religion has a celebration in December, many of which have histories and traditions dating back long before Christmas was celebrated. The Jewish celebrate Hanukkah; the Muslims have Al-Hajra, and Ashura. The Buddhists celebrate Bodhi. Those of German cultural decent and relation can look forward to Yule and the Japanese have their Emperor's Birthday. Kwanzaa is also celebrated for those of African decent.

Instead of having a sign that can be interpreted as exclusionary, may I suggest a more welcoming sign to share with your customers and potential customers, such as "MERRY CHRISTMAS". The spirit and message of Christmas I find to be one of hope and bringing people together, regardless of social groups such as religion and race.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my concerns and have a Merry Christmas.

Living After Faith

2010-12-13T04:53:00.000-08:00

I have never been able to understand the religious point of view. I have tried, and failed, several times. Closest I could come into was some form of pantheism or deism. The former is easier as the latter still has to explain where the god comes from. So, can't get into anything close to a fundamentalist foundation. So, when I can find the chance to get a glimpse into this world it is both fascinating and scary for me. Like the documentary Jesus Camp. It is one of the few films I had to stop watching in the middle and pick it up later.

A few weeks ago I was introduced to a podcast called Living After Faith. The podcast is done by the head of the Seattle Atheists, Rich Lyons, a former evangelical minister turned atheist. From what I have been able to tell, the church in which he was a minister for was quite fundamental, but not over the top as say the Westboro Baptist Church, but not quite the liberal institution that I visited a couple of months ago.

The true benefit of the podcast comes from his openness about a large amount of topics, the reasoning for him becoming an atheist, the loss of community and the attacks against him from his community, and the emotional turmoil that he went through. In just 9 episodes now he has also explained a great deal of the mindset that one goes through in escaping a cult and a very detailed explanation of post traumatic stress disorder.

The episodes are rather short, and if any of you are interested in such topics I really suggest that you take a look. It gives me some more insight into what a lot of the world does think and believe. Those people who I do interact with are rarely fundamentalist religious believes, but I am going to take a wild stab that what most call moderates are in the minority compared to the world's population as a whole, at least those that I call as moderate.

So, Rich, if you read this, thank you for what you share with us. I look forward to your future episodes.

December the Month of Holidays

2010-12-12T19:01:00.000-08:00

To expand upon my last post, December has a wide variety of holidays, spanning religions, cultures and just peoples in general. I would like to take this chance to do a quick rundown on some of the ones that I am aware of, I am sure I will miss some.

December 1 - 8 is Hanukkah. This is a Jewish holiday lasting 8 days and nights. It is also known as the Festival of Lights and is to commemorate the re dedication of the second temple in Jerusalem.

December 7 is Al-Hijra. This is the Islamic New Years festival.

December 8 is Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This is primarily celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church and celebrates that claim that Mary was born without sin.

December 8 is Bodhi Day. This is a Buddhist celebration honoring the day that Siddhartha Gautauma reached enlightenment.

December 14 is Agnostica. This is a celebration for agnostics, from what I know, it is celebrated by hosting a party where the attendees dress up as their favorite scientist. It was only recently brought to my attention, sounds like fun.

December 16 is Ashura. This is a day of morning in Shi'a Islam. Doesn't sound happy.

December 21 is Yule. This is a holiday that has it's roots in German Peganism and is a celebration of the rebirth of the Sun God. It was the integration with this celebration and Christianity that helped create a lot of what we celebrate for Christmas.

December 23 is Emperor's Birthday. This is the celebration of the Japanese Emperor's birthday.

December 23 is Human Light. This is a Secular Humanist celebration of human achievement and a good future.

December 25 is Christmas Day. This is a Christian holiday founded on the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Several theories are posed as to the choosing of the date: to match with the Roman Calendar's Winter Solstice, To correspond with an ancient festival or holiday or the approximation of what some Christian scholar's thought to be nine-months after the date of when Jesus was conceived (I wonder how they even started with that calculation... seriously, any guesses)?

December 26 is Boxing Day. A public and bank holiday in many countries, most importantly Canada, where it is celebrated by discounted merchandise at many retailers selling off their overstock from the Christmas shopping season.

December 26 - January 1 is Kwanzaa. This is a week long celebration to honor universal African heritage. It is really a wonderful holiday, in fact I think everyone should support it. As I have mentioned before, and I will mention it again, We Are All African. Plus, celebrating things with our fellow human beings and breaking down artificial socially constructed barriers is one of the most important things we can do. So, lets all look forward to Kwanzaa this year.

Also, don't forget Human Light, it is also a great holiday.

War on Christmas or a War on Breakfast?

2010-12-10T01:58:00.000-08:00

For those who haven't noticed. I live in Canada. A rather secular part of Canada. As far as it can go. Religious billboard? Never seen on in person. Religious signs? Well, you have the signs on churches with their messages, and the Christian book stores. But, I can't recall ever seeing one on a business, let alone a business that I frequent.

A couple of days ago, I got off work and was heading for breakfast, I work graveyards. It was the last shift in my rotation and I was looking forward to pancakes, with strawberries and bananas on them. I have an IHOP right along my way home. Well, I got off my bus, rounded the corner and looked up at their sign and saw this...

I walked closer and tried to bring myself to write it off, but I couldn't enter the establishment. Their sign says "Keep Christ in Christmas". Seriously. How could I enter a place, no matter ho much I enjoy the food and staff, if the sign on the front is evangelizing, and something that I don't agree with. First off, as someone who has studied linguistics, hell someone that can spell, you can see that you can't literally remove "Christ" from "Christmas", you would just have "mas". Secondly, no one is attacking Christmas, at least, not me. Sure, we are working to raise awareness that Christmas isn't the only holiday in December, and it was only put there to help convert pagans co Christianity. The oldest "holiday" is the Winter Solstice and that is actually celebrating an annual natural event, and an important one at that.

If Jesus existed, no one really knows when the hell his birthday was. Seriously, if we had a birth certificate record we wouldn't be having the argument over his existence, well, after we managed to verify its authenticity. Next, we have many other holidays in December, the month is filled with them, and in my opinion New Years Eve is just as important as New Years day, so that should always be counted as well.

I love Christmas, and I would be fine if my pancake placed simply said "Merry Christmas" on its sign. But, why the hell did they have to instead put something angry and aggressive up instead of something cheerful. Sorry IHOP, but I can't bring myself to enter your establishment while that sign is there. I will have to suffer without your delicious pancakes until sense and reason is restored, at least a little.

Teaching Kids about Santa

2010-12-07T07:38:00.000-08:00

There has been some discussion regarding the ethics and responsible parenting of teaching children about Santa. It is a tough call. I am not a parent, a bit young still in my books for being one, but one day I look forward to the adventure. But, I can see valid arguments on both side of the coin. Almost every, I am sure someone still does, loses the belief in the existence of Santa while they are growing up. Usually well before you become a teenager. I think for myself I was around 6 or 7 when I thought that I had enough proof that Santa doesn't exist. Or at least, there is no evidence to his existence.

I made an argument earlier than Santa is more likely to exist than God. But, that isn't the argument that I am making now. So, should you blatantly teach your kid something that you don't believe to be true? It is lying. I can't get past that argument. We aren't talking the good white lies, like saying that you don't know what someone is getting someone as a gift. Or the eternally annoying "Do these pants make me look fat?" and there is no good way to say yes if they do so you tip toe around the topic.

But, there is a sense of wonder and a warm fuzzy feeling you have from when you were a kid and thinking that Santa existed and the magic around it. You think that denying Santa's existence is like taking away part of childhood that is important. It will be attacking their imagination. Like how you play along when a child is going on an adventure in their own world. You fake it, and it is fun for both of you.

But, on the other side, you are supporting the belief in something that you believe to be not real. It would be like telling your kid that if they wish hard enough their dog can come back to life after he is dead. Or that grandpa is in a better place, when you obviously don't believe in an afterlife. I think the concept of teaching kids about Santa is a tough decision to make for someone who is truly naturalistic.

The best argument that I can come up with for teaching the belief in Santa to a child is that it is a way to set up a potentially great lesson in critical thinking. It is not the belief in Santa that is good, but the way in which the child comes to disbelieve in Santa. When a child learns that there is no Santa they learn that sometimes adults and the world will lie to them. It is like solving a great conspiracy. When I discovered it, I didn't let on and I played along for some time that Santa existed, but snickered to myself that I knew the truth behind it. I think that if we are honest and test children, we can encourage them to be rather critical at this stage of understanding. If they openly claim that there is no Santa, ask them what their reasoning is. Have a good honest discussion with them and help plant the seeds of critical thinking. It can be an early lesson for Occam's Razor. Which is more likely, one man flies around the world in one night delivering presents to millions of kids, and skips all those kids who are starving, homeless, and in desperate need of help, or that your parents' plant those gifts and trick you? I think the answer is obvious.

That is my take on the teaching of Santa. What do you think?

Still Here

2010-12-06T05:54:00.000-08:00

Well, another extremely long day is coming to an end. I apologize for the absence of my ramblings for those who were looking forward to them. Alas, I have been distracted. Today/yesterday I had my annual Japanese test. Each year I take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, it is only offered once a year for my level and in Vancouver. So, for the last few days I have been trying to squeeze as much of my free attention span to studying and preparing for this test.

Friday and Saturday night I worked my normal 12 hour shift. I got off work at 7am, headed home for a quick nap and then had to cross the city to get to the testing site. Due to the Santa Claus Parade my bus was late to make one of my connections and missed the bus to the test site by a minute. This meant that I was stuck waiting 30 minutes for the next bus. I made it into the test only a few minute late and running on less than 4 hours of sleep for a 3 hour language test. To say the least, I was tired. Then I headed from there back to work, another hour and a half of transit. Now I am finishing up a 12.5 hour work shift, without a break. I am tired to say the least.

But, I am happy to say that I get a whole 8 hours of sleep after this, and I get to shower and shave. That will be a nice relief I must say. I promise to have something a bit more interesting to read for you shortly. After I can figure out how to replace this rock in my head with my brain.

God's Plan

2010-11-29T23:54:00.000-08:00

I am sure this concept and conclusion has been used before. But, I am going to state it anyway. I am basing my argument on the assumption (really bad I know) that there exists an all knowing, all powerful, being that created and has a plan for the entire universe and every action, including if you pick up a piece of toast with your right hand or your left has been taken into consideration for this plan long before we all existed. That generally sounds like a lot of descriptions of God that I have heard/read. So, based on that assumption.

If, said God exists, then this being would already have taken into account all the actions that I am going to make in my life. Free will is meaningless and since I don't believe this being exists and wouldn't believe this being exists without decent enough evidence (if that is possible given the descriptions above) then I was meant to remain an atheist for the term of my existence. So, my atheism was part of the plan to begin with. Please accept my request to enjoy life believing on things that I know exist and don't believe in things that are not proven, let alone unprovable/disprovable. Thank you, and have a good life.

I left out of my assumptions of the all loving and forgiving because they are meaningless to the assertion, and the first one is impossible giving the state of the world and my definition as to what is love, caring, and compassion.

Respect and Obey Who?

2010-11-27T05:04:00.000-08:00

Hemant over at Friendly Atheist posted a rather disturbing video entitled "Respect and Obey". I challenge you to watch it through completely if you can. After that, please come back to reality if you aren't puking.

The point of the video is simple. You should, particularly children, respect and obey people in positions of authority. This includes, teachers, parents, police officers, government officials and so forth. Based upon this logic, if you were in Nazi Germany you would be expected to respect and obey all of the commands of Hitler. From my limited knowledge of Germany at the time this was one of the conflicts that Christians in Germany had was the indisputable statements in the Bible that you must obey the statements of the government.

This pretty much summarizes the view in the Bible:

Titus 3

1Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

2To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

3For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

There are many quotes that can be taken from both the Old Testament and the New alike that support the statement that the Christian thing to do is to listen to those in power. How can you question someone in power? Those in power must have been put there by the will of God right? Luckily dissent is a growing thing, but there seems to still be some people who think that blind obedience is a good thing. I am of the opinion that respect must be earned and no one gains respect without proving themselves worthy of that respect, let alone obedience. I am not a dog and do not have a master to obey. Oh wait, the Bible also supports slavery doesn't it?

Ephesians 6:5-8

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

Please remember to take your time and think before you act. Don't blindly follow the anyone regardless of who they are. Their position and their authority make them no less human or flawed as any other person on the planet. Question everything you here and think for yourself. And whatever you do, don't take my word for it. Think for yourself.

Beam Me Up Scotty!... not yet.

2010-11-19T03:18:00.001-08:00

I like science. I mean, a lot. I didn't complete my university studies in a scientific field, mostly because I can't focus on one subject enough to master it. That and I like Shakespeare. However, I do enjoy hearing about new scientific discoveries. This one is rather cool for any Star Trek fan.

They have found a way to capture anti-matter. One of the forms of fuel used in Star Trek to propel their ships. Okay, we can't capture it on that level. What the have done is find a way to capture about 40 anti-matter particles, made from hydrogen, for less than a second.

What can we accomplish with this? Not a lot. Don't expect any practical applications of this creation for some time. As was said in the article, it would take about a thousand years from this method of creation to produce enough energy from the anti-matter to heat your coffee. However, the theoretical applications will be useful in testing theories of physics and how we understand the universe. It might also give us a glimpse at how the universe was created.

In my books, this is rather cool, as before we were lucky to get two or three anti-matter particles and they vanished almost instantly. Anything close to a fraction of a second is a nice increase. It might not seem like a lot of time to most people, but when talking about the atomic scale, a second is a long time.

Time for a House Cleaning

2010-11-18T03:33:00.000-08:00

Please permit me the privilege of an angry rant. Ever since I learned the make-up of the Canadian political system I have not liked it. First off, we are a constitutional monarchy. Effectively making the Queen of England our ruler. I don't like the thought of that. Secondly, we have a Senate. A body of unelected officials that hold power from the time they are appointed until they step down or die. These unelected officials normally are nothing more than a ceremonial position, like our Queen, but still have the constitutional authority to actually use their power to alter or stop bills from getting passed. Bills that were created and drafted by elected officials.

This group of unelected officials has decided to flex their power, spurred by a call from the head of our minority government. A Climate Change Accountability bill had passed two readings in the House of Commons and was posed and ready to get passed into law. The Conservative government didn't like this and stopped the bill with the only means they had, the Senate where their stacked house was able to kill the bill.

First off, I was happy that the Climate Change Accountability bill was going to be passed. I don't know if the targets for the bill are irresponsible, as Harper was claiming, but the fact that it didn't actually outline a set path for achieving the goal was a good thing. If the bill got passed it would be a requirement for making the government find a way to achieve the goals. Maybe instead of spending a billion dollars on hosting a conference in an irresponsible location we could instead spend a billion dollars investing in alternative power sources and upgrading our infrastructure to something more sustainable. At the very least, decreasing the growing smog in and around the lower mainland of BC would be really nice in my books. It gets disgusting in the Fraser Valley in the summer.

Secondly, the Canadian government has generally been ducking and hiding from the responsibilities it should have to deal with modernizing its economy. We are still very much a primary resource economy and highly dependent on that fact.

I seriously think that Canada needs to have a restructuring of its government system. First and foremost I would like to suggest a no confidence vote and hold elections. It is time to say goodbye to Harper. Second, I would like to see the government structure change to remove the Senate completely, and while we are at it, can we get rid of our ties to the Monarchy. I know this will require a drastic change of everything, however, the change needs to come eventually, and I don't want to be around paying lip service to whomever succeeds Elizabeth II, honestly, it is annoying enough with her visits. Whoever is the head of this country needs to understand that they are completely accountable to the people and are acting with their approval. Having unelected officials making legislative decisions is not acceptable in my books.

That is my vote.

Disbelief

2010-11-13T05:29:00.000-08:00

After several days of dwelling on this topic I think my thoughts have finally come into coherence enough to put them down. I don't believe in the existence of a lot of things: ghosts, goblins, unicorns, angels, demons, devils, gods, Santa, alien abductions, big foot, and a life without paying taxes. I wish I could believe in some of them and there are a chance that I am wrong about some or potentially all of them. The last is a little outlandish, but not much more than some in the list.

That is a short list of things that I don't believe in. Period. I am not making a statement that these items don't exist. There is a chance that they do, and for each item that chance varies greatly, none would I say comes close to a 50-50 guess. The most likely on the list is probably alien abductions I am going to assume based on nothing more than my wishing for the existence and chance of meeting aliens. But, I can not say for any item that the potential for their existence (p) is completely 0. Maybe p > 0.00000001 but at no time does p = 0.

Now, once we start giving properties to these items, say that goblins must all look like the ones in the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie then that potential decreases, because what we are looking for is more specific to fit that category. Lets assume that we find a pink goblin with squinty eyes, well, it doesn't look like the goblins in the movie, so it must not be a goblin.

I am willing to state this though, I may not state that any of these things don't exist, but if they do exist, then they are not supernatural. There must be some way to prove their existence. We can make many claims about something existence, but state that it doesn't follow the rules of this universe and try to push it further and further from the reaches of something that can be expected to produce evidence. For me there is just a slight logical fallacy in those claims.

There are few things I would like more than to discover that aliens do exist and visit this planet, or magic is real, but I am not going to believe these things actually exist without evidence. As Carl Sagan put it so succinctly, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Also, if you can prove the existence of what we would consider paranormal you can always go for the million dollar James Randi challenge. It still hasn't been claimed after all these years (46 and counting). You just have to be able to stand up to the rigorous test of the scientific process.

I am happy to admit that we don't know everything as a species, and I know far less than what knowledge humans have discovered about this universe. However, without evidence to support the existence of something as fantastic as telekinesis, resurrection of the dead, shape shifters, immortal being, or talking to the dead, even life after death, then I simply can not believe it on faith alone. We have a limited amount of senses and they make up our perception of the universe. Outside those senses and what was can interpolate or extrapolate based on evidence and solid proven logic (not based on wild assumptions), I can not simply accept and meld it to my world view.

So maybe ghosts exist and maybe possibly the world is controlled by a shadowy governing body that no one can prove exists, if either one is true they exist in this universe, please find solid evidence and prove it to us, maybe make yourself a clean million while you are at it. Until then, please don't expect me to believe your claims, let me live in my world where I know that I am made of star dust and the matter that made up my body has come about over billions of years of natural processes and am happy with that.

Thank you, and have a fantastic existence.

4th Annual Desert Bus for Hope

2010-11-13T01:29:00.000-08:00

Charity is great, and video games are great. Not to mention, sketch comedy is great. Well, for those who don't know, the crew of LoadingReadyRun, a Victoria based internet sketch comedy group have an annual event to raise money for Child's Play. This event combines all the greatness mentioned above.

This year, the crew will have 5 drivers, playing the most boring game ever created, Desert Bus. The basic premise of the game is that you are driving a bus from Tuscon, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada, an 8 hour trip down a boring road. To make sure you don't fall asleep you have to keep the bus from driving off the road. Since the road is completely flat and straight there is a slight drift to the right. So occasional tapping is required of the driver.

The event is streamed live over the internet, with a bus camera if you want to watch. So, if you want to help support the torture of the drivers, who are having 24 hour shifts this year, please pitch in some cash. Child's Play is a great charity that raises money to keep children in hospitals entertained.

For more information please check out the following links.
Desert Bus for Hope
Child's Play
Desert Bus
LoadingReadyRun