Town split over teacher who burned crosses into students’ arms

From MSNBC.com

Demonstrations on the town square show how divided people are over the school board’s decision to fire a science teacher accused of preaching his Christian beliefs in the classroom and burning crosses on students’ arms.

John Freshwater, 52, was fired last month after an outside consulting firm released a report concluding that he taught creationism and was insubordinate in failing to remove a Bible and other religious materials from his classroom at Mount Vernon Middle School.

Some residents consider him a courageous fighter for religious freedom. Others say he has brazenly violated the church-state divide.

Christopher Hitchens gets waterboarded

Personally I’m not really a fan of Christopher Hitchens so I enjoyed this a little too much:

Late last year, the writer, polemicist and fierce proponent of the US-led invasion of Iraq Christopher Hitchens attempted, in a piece for the online magazine Slate, to draw a distinction between what he called techniques of “extreme interrogation” and “outright torture”.

From this, his foes inferred that since it was Hitchens’ belief that America did not stoop to the latter, the practice of waterboarding - known to be perpetrated by US forces against certain “high-value clients” in Iraq and elsewhere - must fall under the former heading.

Enraged by what they saw as an exercise in elegant but offensive sophistry, some of the writer’s critics suggested that Hitchens give waterboarding (which may sound like some kind of fun aquatic pastime, but is probably best summarised as enforced partial drowning) a whirl, just to see what it was like. Did the experience feel like torture?

And amazingly, he has done just that.

Exorcism is protected by law

From MSNBC”

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday threw out a jury award over injuries a 17-year-old girl suffered in an exorcism conducted by members of her old church, ruling that the case unconstitutionally entangled the court in religious matters.

In a 6-3 decision, the justices found that a lower court erred when it said the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God’s First Amendment rights regarding freedom of religion did not prevent the church from being held liable for mental distress triggered by a “hyper-spiritualistic environment.”

List of superstitions McCain believes in

From Crooks and Liars

Consider what we’ve learned about McCain’s superstitions:

* McCain believes it’s bad luck for someone to hand him a salt shaker.

* McCain believes it’s bad luck to throw a hat onto a bed.

* McCain regularly carries 31 cents in lucky change in his pocket.

* McCain carries a lucky feather, a lucky compass, a lucky penny, a lucky nickel, a lucky quarter, and a laminated four-leaf clover.

* McCain believes it’s bad luck to pick up a coin if it isn’t heads up.

* McCain’s been known to have an aide carry his lucky pen at all times.

Canada Executing its Citizens Through Proxy

A young man in Saudi Arabia is less than a month away from being beheaded for his part in a school yard brawl that ended with the death of an 18 year old student. Mohamed Kohail, who is a Canadian citizen, is only a few days from the chopping block, and Canada is seriously dragging it’s feet, and has refused to demand clemency, or take any diplomatic action.

This is all part of the Conservative Administration’s new policy of no longer seeking clemency for citizens that are sentenced to death in countries that have an elected and democratic government. In other words, if you are convicted and sentenced to death in, say, Montana, you’re on your own.

There was a time not so long ago that the Canadian Government actually took a stand behind its commitment against the death penalty. The reversal of this policy is more evidence that the very conservative element of government now in power has no real problem with death sentences. Their failure to condemn this practice is a raining endorsement, and seriously contradicts the majority’s attitude towards the practice.

This is now exacerbated by the fact that Canada has dragged its feet on this issue in order to avoid poor diplomatic conditions with Saudi Arabia, since they would essentially put it in a different category than “democratic countries” according to the new policy.

So disastrous is this new attitude that we are now collectively responsible for the deaths of any citizen traveling abroad who is sentenced to death. We are, through proxy, part of the mechanism which will bring the end of this young man’s life. Forget the fact that his trial lasted on 90 minutes, or that the judge didn’t even allow any testimony on behalf of the defendant. The issue is how this country deals with the protection of its citizens according to our laws and values. The Conservative government, in their growing ambition to usurp the humanitarian values of this nation, have proven once again why they are not proper representatives of this country. Shame on you, Mr. Harper, for making me a part of this mechanism of death.

The Fear Card

If I told you that large groups of fundamentalists were threatening to commit acts of terror over the release of a simple movie criticizing Islam and the Koran, I’m sure none of you would be surprised. We take this kind of ridiculousness for granted now. You can’t release a cartoon, a book, or a documentary without fear of reprisal, and now, rather than only make threats at the authors of such works (which was already outrageous enough as it is), now an entire country is somehow responsible for the work of one of its citizens.

Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician, recently made a movie critical of the Koran. The hoopla that’s followed was no surprise; however, the reaction of his own government is beginning to showcase a dangerous and frightening precedence. His own Prime Minister has tried to delay the release of the film, and the Ministry of Justice attempted to find ways of killing the project all together, to no avail. The government claims this is to protect the lives of it’s troops in Afghanistan, there on a peace mission.

It sounds almost reasonable, doesn’t it? Maybe they should censor this movie to prevent innocent lives from being lost. Maybe they should succumb to the intense political pressure coming from Iran, who threatened to review their diplomatic stance with the Netherlands, right?

No. Although I’m not in a habit of writing this sort of tirade, I have no choice but to use strong language in my response to quantify my anger and disappointment at the Dutch government for succumbing to this pressure. Fuck you. Honestly, if we allow ourselves to be bullied by fear, what else are we willing to sacrifice? Do any of you think that defending your principles would be easy? Does anyone think that there isn’t a war of ideology being instigated by Fundamentalists? Who looks like they might be winning? Terrorists are willing to die for their convictions, however convoluted and stupid they are; and yet when faced with the same choice, we run in fear, and submit to their demands. It makes all of us look weak and scared. It makes the enemies of reason emboldened in their efforts to suppress our beliefs and our rights. It makes their terrorism work on us.

Podcast Episode 6

Although I’m a little late posting up the podcast, it was definitely well worth it! This week, my guest is Tom, filling after the mysterious disappearance of Ryan. We’ll be talking about the “lost” continent of Atlantis, as well as hear some great stories from my traveling friend, as he recounts his experiences around the world! For those of you wondering what website we were talking about during the podcast, please visit this “bastion” of human wisdom here. Also, be sure and submit your own silly theories about the legend of Atlantis!

 

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The Mickey Incident, Part 2

Some of you may recall a story I featured a few weeks ago about a children’s television show staring a high pitched voiced Mickey Mouse rip-off, who encouraged children to fight Israel. Amid international pressure, the producers finally decided to drop the character, but not before adding their own little psychotic twist by martyring him.

We’re all aware that there are organized indoctrination campaigns all across the Middle East designed to create generations of suicide bombers. To succeed, they rely on two important tactics in their efforts to turn human beings into walking bombs: (1) they target the weak, young, vulnerable, and uneducated to do their bidding, and (2) they rely on the mechanism of blind faith as a tool for mindless obedience. What better targets than children, since they have all the necessary requirement?

Violent rhetoric doesn’t rely on subtlety to be effective. In the case of Farfour, the creepy mascot of religious intolerance, his final skit involved an Israeli soldier beating him to death while attempting to usurp him from his land. His teenage co-host, a young woman whose soft smiling face belied a cold and calculating grin, explained how Farfour’s demise was the result of his defending Palestine, a clear message that a peaceful compromise in Israel was not on the mouse’s mind.

Luckily, not everyone in Palestine was content with the show’s violent and malicious message. Many segments of the population are peaceful individuals, desperate for a compromise that would allow them to live in harmony and peace with their neighbors. It’s difficult to imagine, however, how such a thing is possible when characters like Farfour are given access to young and impressionable minds. The future of both Palestine and Israel will forever be compromised so long as zealots are allowed to incense children to violence and murder. I can only hope that unlike his North American counterpart, he will fade into obscurity, a forgotten memory of a desperate and turbulent time.