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MonthDecember 2007

Top 10 Live TV Streakers

December 13, 2007 /

“Streaking is the act of taking off one’s clothes and running naked through a public place. The act itself is pretty awesome, but throw in a live television event watched by millions and millions of people, and the act becomes performance art. Many have tried, but few have been as successful as these brave soles who turned some normally poised and collected newscasters, sports announcers and rock stars into laughing, confused – and sometimes appreciative – spectators. Here now, the top 10 live television streakings.”(NSFW)

(via YuppiePunk)

Christians and Fox exploit Colorado Church Shootings

December 12, 2007 /

Someone at Daily Kos takes a look at media coverage of the church shooting and digs up some interesting details about the Christian group that Murray was most involved with, Youth with a Mission:

The Cult Awareness Network national office in Chicago had several letters on file concerning YWAM. One such letter by Nancy Brown dated March of 1984 from Itheca, New York stated “that Ywam has many elements of a destructive cult”. A major issue cited was “the authoritarian control by the elders”. Allegedly YWAM depicted the “world” as “Satanic”. Members were told that “Satan comes into an idle mind” and were advised “Whenever you have a spare moment memorize. Elders gave out cards with Bible verses to carry and use”.

And:

Denver station KMGH reports that many people at the Colorado Springs church have similar connections: “There is a Youth With A Mission office on the New Life Church campus, and many members of New Life have completed the YWAM’s school and discipleship programs. They have also worked together in local evangelical outreach programs.”

So here’s what seems to have happened: a particularly loony Christian group filled a mentally ill kid’s head with terrifying non-sense and he ended up killing some people, and now the conservative media want blame secularism for it. Well, it makes as much sense as Christianity does in the first place, I suppose.

Full Story: Daily Kos.

links for 2007-12-12

December 12, 2007 /

No Security, Prosperity, Or Sovereignty For Canada in a NAU

December 12, 2007 /

“Much of Canada’s sovereignty has already been eroded, but a North American Union would be the final nail in the coffin for an independent nation. It use to be the NDP who championed preserving Canadian sovereignty, but they have become a shadow of their former selves, and it appears as if they have been taken over by the very same interests that they had sworn to fight and protect us from. For what it’s worth, I have challenged the NDP to make this issue the pillar of their election platform. The Canadian Action Party (CAP), a little known party with limited resources, is putting the NDP (a national party) to shame, especially in regards to fighting and exposing the NAU agenda. Even with no current members in the House of Commons, the CAP may serve as a real alternative and play a big role in defeating the NAU and preserving an independent Canada for future generations to come.”

(via Stop Lying)

(via NAU Info)

(see also Canada Admits the NAU Exists)


Disorganised atheism in America

December 12, 2007 /

From the good boys over at the Economist:

What accounts for the failure of atheists to organise and wield influence? One problem is that they are hardly a cohesive group. Another issue is simply branding. ‘Atheist’ has an ugly ring in American ears and it merely defines what people are not. ‘Godless’ is worse, its derogatory attachment to ‘communist’ may never be broken. ‘Humanist’ sounds too hippyish. A few have taken to calling themselves ‘Brights’ for no good reason and to widespread mirth. And ‘secular’ isn’t quite the word either; one can be a Christian secularist.

But another failing of the irreligious movement has been its tendency, frequently, to pick the wrong fights. Keeping the Ten Commandments out of an Alabama courthouse is one thing. But attacking a Christmas nativity scene on public property does more harm than good. Such secular crusades allow Christians-after all, the overwhelming majority of the country-to feel under attack, and even to declare that they are on the defensive in a ‘War on Christmas’. When a liberal federal court in California struck the words ‘under God’ from the pledge of allegiance, religious conservatives rallied. Atheists might be tactically wise to accept the overwhelming majority’s comfort with such ‘ceremonial deism’.

Continued.

S?o Paulo homeless group claiming abandoned buildings

December 11, 2007 /

squate in sao paulo

The Prestes Maia building in downtown S?o Paulo, abandoned for 12 years, had become a haven for drugs and prostitution. Then, in 2002, more than 400 homeless families, in cooperation with a local group called the Downtown Homeless Movement, occupied the 22-story building. Conditions were crowded and difficult-the building lacks electricity and running water-but residents established a free library, cinema, and educational and social activities.

The Brazilian Constitution recognizes the right to housing and states that all property must serve a ‘social function.’ But in S?o Paulo, where slums and homelessness are common, an estimated 400,000 housing units are unused. The Downtown Homeless Movement, which has reclaimed more than 30 buildings in S?o Paulo, is just one of many groups reclaiming abandoned buildings across Brazil. At Prestes Maia, residents have fought eviction with protests, road blockades, and legal battles. After years of struggle, they have won either new housing or assistance from the government.

From: Yes Magazine.

(via Hit and Run).

Consequences of Megan’s Law

December 11, 2007 /

After spending 20 years in prison for rape, Michael A. Dodele was stabbed to death. Police are investigating the possibility that his death was motivated by a listing on the sex offenders registry:

Although Oliver did not say he killed Dodele, he said that “any father in my position, with moral, home, family values, wouldn’t have done any different. At the end of the day, what are we as parents? Protectors, caregivers, nurturers.”

In fact, Dodele was not a child molester. But a listing on the Megan’s Law website could have left Oliver with the impression that he had abused children because of the way it was written.

Although Dodele’s listing has been taken down since his death, a spokesman for the state attorney general said the site described the man’s offenses as “rape by force” and “oral copulation with a person under 14 or by force.”

“He was convicted of other bad things, but nothing involving a minor,” said Richard F. Hinchcliff, chief deputy district attorney for Lake County. But “it would be easy to understand why someone might think so looking at the website.”

Full Story: LA Times.

71 year old Harry Berlin hasn’t been killed yet, but he’s being harassed even though he isn’t even listed in a sex offenders registry:

Christopher Risdon is a 35-year-old sex offender who was busted for child porn. But Risdon doesn’t live at this Tropicana Avenue apartment. Hasn’t for years. So when the curious (if that’s really all they are) come calling, they’re now ringing the wrong doorbell. Despite what sex offender-tracking Web sites say, this apartment belongs to Harry Berlin, 71 years old, frail and, frankly, petrified.

Full Story: Hit and Run.

links for 2007-12-11

December 11, 2007 /

IONS Opens Its Doors

December 11, 2007 /

“I just learned that the Institute of Noetic Sciences has opened its virtual library of consciousness studies to the public until December 24th.

Included in this promotion are video interviews from Deepak Chopra and other luminaries, as well as access to dozens of articles and audio broadcasts on subjects ranging from spirituality, the paranormal, the power of intention, meditation, sacred geometry, lucid dreaming, holistic education, bioenergetics…. and on and on.”

(via The Dream Studies Portal)

(Free access to IONS-Shift In Action)

Ebony, Meet Irony

December 11, 2007 /

“This is one of the funnier things I’ve read recently. It turns out that 1962 Nobel laureate, James Watson, who recently made some disparaging comments about the intelligence of Africans, probably is of African descent himself.

Watson, whose genome was completely sequenced, is the second person whose entire genome was published on the internet. As a result, it is freely accessible to the public. So, because scientists will be scientists, an Icelandic company, deCODE Genetics, carried out an analysis of Watson’s genome and found that 16 percent of his genome is likely to have come from an ancestor of African descent. In contrast, the genome of the average person of European descent has only one percent that is consistent with African ancestry.”

(via Living The Scientific Life-Scientist, Interrupted)

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