TAZLines

TAZ Obituary

2009-11-29T16:18:00.000-08:00

Ms. Terry Anne Sharff, 49, died the 9th day of November in the year 2009 at 12:26 p.m., in the presence of caring staff of Thedacare @ Home Hospice Services (www.thedacare.org), at Cherry Meadows Hospice, her domestic partner, Le Osburn, and her chihuahua, Arianna, in Menasha, Wisconsin.

Ms. Sharff was born September 24, 1960, in Paris, Texas, to Peggy (Humphrey) Wood and Mr. Sharff (father unknown). Terry worked almost 20 years as a software engineer consultant, specializing in SAP software implementations. Having been employed by the maker of the software (SAP America, Inc.) she moved to the Fox Valley as an LE Functional Consultant to assist Bemis' implementation of SAP. Terry was also an avid quilter having designed and hand stitched numerous quilts. Terry's other passion was history, receiving a Bachelors of Art from the University of California in Davis. At that time she also worked on Diane Feinstein's campaign (http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/). Following her diagnosis in March of 2008 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/amyotrophiclateralsclerosis/amyotrophiclateralsclerosis.htm), it was not unexpected that Terry dedicated many blogging hours on behalf of Barrack Obama's Presidential campaign. Additionally, Ms. Sharff lived with mindfulness intent as a vegetarian, sharing a love for animals and the environment alike, she supported PETA, ASPCA, the Sierra Club, The Environmental Defense Fund, The Wilderness Defense Fund, World Wildlife Fund, the Jane Goodall Institute, the Gorilla Foundation, and others too numerous to name. Additionally, Ms. Sharff followed civil liberties causes at Amnesty International and the Human Rights Campaign. Finally, Terry was an avid reader with interests including non-fiction, history, and science.

Ms. Sharff is survived by Ms. Lisa (“Le”) M. Osburn, her domestic partner, (celebrated April 19th, 2003 at Cedarlane Unitarian Universalist church in Silver Spring, Maryland). Survivors also include, two sons, Erin and Ryan Wellock who live on the West Coast where they were raised. Terry also leaves to Le Osburn's care two chihuahua's, Robbie and Arianna, and two pixie bob felines, Irving and Emery.

A memorial ride in Terry's power chair will be held to honor her on *12/19/2009* starting at *Corner of I10 & Cold Spring Road, Town of Menasha, Wisconsin* to help raise awareness of ALS. Le Osburn will coordinate the ride. If you would like to contribute to the ongoing research efforts to find a cure for ALS, please consider contributing to the Muscular Dystrophy Association's ALS Division.

Posted by Le Osburn (LMO) in honor of Taz.

McCain's Bald Faced Lie to Veterans

2008-10-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

The John McCain for President web site says that “John McCain has been a leader in Congress, fighting for all those who serve and their families, improving veterans’ health care, providing veterans with the benefits they have earned, easing their transition to civilian life, and honoring the fallen.” This is easily proven to be an outrageous lie.

Since such a large part of the McCain persona surrounds his almost mythical military service, one would think that such a dedicated soldier would be devoted to the betterment of the military and the men and women who serve in it. McCain has often stated that he supports veterans and veteran issues, but interestingly, McCain has voted against every major amendment or bill that would in any way benefit his beloved military.

McCain didn’t just vote against giving the military money, he also voted against giving them rest when he voted, in 2007, against the Webb amendment calling for adequate troop rest between deployments.

McCain has a long record of voting against any monetary award that might benefit veterans. In the very busy year of 2006 he voted against an amendment that would provide $20 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs for health care facilities, like Walter Reed. Then McCain was one of only 13 Senators to vote against the $430 million allotted for the Department of Veteran Affairs for medical services to provide outpatient care and treatment for veterans.

McCain found a way to combine his real love of corporate finances, with his faux love of veteran’s affairs by protecting corporate tax loopholes from being savaged by veteran’s affair funding. He voted, in 2006, against increasing medical service funding for veterans by $1.5 billion to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes, and declined again in 2004, against closing a corporate tax loophole to provide funding for veterans medical care.

It is a bit hard to prove that you are a champion of the military when you won’t spend a dime to care for them, and a much harder case to suggest you are a maverick when you cater to corporate tax structures and the lobbyists for those corporations. The fact that McCain would put a bald face lie on his web site indicates he is shameless, both for the way he has abandoned the veterans that trusted him, and for the way he lies to voters.

Veterans are wise to McCain’s machinations, as can be seen by the low rating given him by veteran organizations across the nation. The Disabled American Veterans and the American Legion recently gave Barack Obama an 80 rating, while awarding McCain a measly 20. Also telling was the D rating McCain received from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, most probably for his votes against the veterans of those very wars.

If the veterans of America can see through McCain’s lies, surely the general population will have to follow suit.

Sources:
Vote Smart Records, The Daily KOS, McCain’s voting record - how he REALLY supports the troops ,clammyc, Jan. 26, 08, Political Affairs.net, John McCain and the Veterans “Paradigm Shift” Joel Wendland, Sept. 14, 08. Washington Post, Votes Database, 109th congressional senate recordVote Smart Records, The Daily KOS, McCain’s voting record - how he REALLY supports the troops ,clammyc, Jan. 26, 08, Political Affairs.net, John McCain and the Veterans “Paradigm Shift” Joel Wendland, Sept. 14, 08. Washington Post, Votes Database, 109th congressional senate record

Why Feminists should Reject Sarah Palin

2008-10-15T16:57:00.000-07:00

I have heard several conservative pundits and quite a few feminists suggesting women should support Sarah Palin because she is an “empowered” woman who represents progress for women in politics. Other women suggest they even feel guilty for not supporting Palin.

I can think of several reasons why it would be inadvisable for feminists or any other women to support Sarah Palin, not the least of which is that she is simply a token woman on John McCain’s campaign, meant to entice disillusioned Hilary Clinton supporters to vote for him. Palin has little understanding of political ethics as shown by her consistent abuse of gubernatorial power in regard to hiring and firing. She is completely unknowledgeable politically and is so misinformed that she actually believes the founding fathers wrote the Pledge of Allegiance.

Why should we feel guilty for rejecting such and empty and patronizing offering?

Women should assertively shun Sarah Palin because she is an anti-feminist who opposes every issue most feminists support, including issues relating to abortion, birth control, sex education, parenting, healthcare, equal pay for equal work, and civil rights.

Sarah Palin belongs to the pro-life organization Feminists for Life, which focuses on convincing college age women to choose motherhood and deny abortion. The group’s web site is filled with quasi feminist history topics, all of which are peculiarly skewed to the perspective of parenthood. Articles on the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, challenges regarding Welfare to Work programs, and the pros and cons regarding the decision to be stay at home moms illustrate the focus placed on birth and motherhood. The website is also filled with pseudo scientific articles and advice stressing the physical and emotional dangers inherent to abortion.

Palin supports legal consent laws for young women seeking an abortion, and was reported to be extremely disappointed when Alaska “…lawmakers let a bill die requiring girls under 17 to get parental consent for an abortion.” Sadly, these types of laws have been shown to create hardship for young women whenever and where ever they are enacted.

Sarah Palin describes herself as a pro-life advocate who revels in her conservative “family” values. Though she has gone on the record in favor of contraception, most of the conservative groups Palin identifies with classify 40 percent of all birth control methods as abortion because they all have the same mode of action as emergency contraception. Limiting your access to those contraceptives has been a special focus of the Bush administration, and one can only imagine what the super conservative Palin would do.

Conservative groups insist abstinence is the only truly acceptable birth control method, and like Palin, they insist abstinence education should be included in any sex education program, despite multiple studies showing abstinence education as being largely ineffective. When asked in 2006 if she would support abstinence only education Palin said “Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.”

Sarah Palin opposes abortion even in the cases of rape and incest, and insists that any woman who gets pregnant should give birth, regardless of health, age, economic or other circumstances. Proving that she is seriously dedicated to this philosophy, Palin has a 17 year old daughter who became pregnant and is now set to marry the 17 year old father of her baby. Rather than treating this delicate situation as the personal tragedy it is, and behaving the way a concerned parent might, Palin took advantage of the situation by exploiting her daughter’s pregnancy to tout her conservative credentials. Not the kind of parenting I would hope American women model.

Like most pro-life advocates who are avid supporters of birth but not interested in providing health services for women and children afterward, Palin opposed a health care bill in her state that would expand health services to all Alaskans. As governor, Palin also used a line item veto to cut funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live. Funding for Covenant House, a transitional home for teenage mothers, was cut by 20 percent under the Governor.

Palin has not been very vocal regarding pay equity for women, but her running mate McCain has provided plenty of information regarding the likelihood of women receiving equal pay for equal work under his administration. McCain claims to support pay equity but says he opposes the Ledbetter Bill, which essentially extends the right of women to sue for pay inequities if they experience discrimination. McCain opposes the bill because “…this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems…” Once again the McCain Palin ticket shows its concern for corporate America over the rights of women.

In 2006, Palin vetoed state legislation denying benefits to same-sex couples and said she would support a constitutional amendment to deny same-sex couples the same benefits afforded to heterosexual mates. She also opposes Hate Crime Legislation as does McCain. Legislation like the Matthew Shepard Act that would protect Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender people from bigotry targeted crimes. McCain also voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) legislation that would prohibit discrimination in the work force based on sexual orientation. We can only assume Palin agrees with McCain’s stance since they are “political soul mates.”

It is apparent from Sarah Palin’s conservative anti-woman focus that she is not interested in “empowering” the women of America in any meaningful way, but is in reality primarily interested in controlling our sexual lives. Palin expects women to do without health care, equal pay or protection against discrimination while also believing that more children should be born into the world without those benefits.

Feminists should only be embarrassed or feel guilty if they choose to vote for such an anti-feminist force

Sources: Time, Conservative Believer, Clair Sudduth . The Daily KOs, Palin thinks Pledge written by Founding Fathers , JLFinch , Aug 31, 2008. .AMERICan Psychology Association, Research Shows That Abstinence-Only Programs Have Limited Effectiveness And Unintended Consequences, Pam Willenz, February, 23, 2005.The Washington Times, Panel debates effectiveness of abstinence education, Thursday, April 24, 2008. Think Progress, Palin Supports Parental Consent Laws For Minors Seeking Abortions, Anchorage Daily News, August 14, 2008. Huffington Post, McCain opposes equal pay bill in Senate, Libby Quaid, April 23, 2008. Think Progress, Anchorage Daily News, December 21, 2006. Washington Blade, McCain’s gay Q&A, William R. Kapfer , Oct 1, 2008.Fox News, McCain talks Palin on Fox News Sunday, Mosheh Oinounou, August 31st, 2008.

Eight Terrible Truths about Sarah Palin

2008-10-13T23:10:00.000-07:00

Since the moment John McCain patronized American women by introducing Sarah Palin as his VP choice, with the goal of duping women who might be disillusioned by Hilary Clinton’s loss into voting form him, the media and blogasphere have been flooded with stories regarding the Alaska Governor, some flattering and some rather ugly. Since those initial stories we have learned some basic facts about Sarah Palin however, that paint a very different picture of her than the one the McCain campaign would have us believe. I have attempted in this post to summarize the top eight facts we now know about Sarah Palin.

Regarding women’s issues Palin is an anti-feminist, a member of Feminists for Life, and someone who wants the government to invade women’s lives to block all abortion, but is opposed to offering equal pay for equal work, or to providing federal funding for health care, child care, or early childhood education. She opposes all but abstinence based sex education, and rather ironically, has an unwed pregnant daughter.

Palin has a horrible track record on conservation, and advocates for oil drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Preserve. Her husband, actually works for BP oil, when he is not working as a deep see fisherman. Palin also supports hunting wolves by helicopter, and used state funds to fight a bill that would make the practice illegal. She denies that global warming is being affected in any way by human activity and sued the federal government when they wanted to put Polar Bears on the endangered species list, saying that people were over reacting to global warming issues.

On the matter of education Palin denies the scientific truths regarding evolution and science. She pushes for teaching creationism in public schools, and opposes science curriculums that teach evolution or critical thinking as being superior to creationism.

She is not the popular Governor that we have been led to believe. While the McCain campaign tells us Palin has an 80 percent approval rate in Alaska, Gregg Erickson of the Anchorage Daily News, reports that Palin’s approval rating in the state is actually 65 percent and sinking, and he suggests that “among journalists who followed her, it might be in the teens." He also added: "I have a hard time seeing how her qualifications stack up against the duties and responsibilities of being president.” Also from an editorial in the Anchorage Daily News: "It's stunning that someone with so little national and international experience might be heartbeat away from the presidency."

She is not the political maverick and reformer we have been told she is. According to the Washington Post from 2003 to 2005, Palin was one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group that raises unlimited funds from corporate donors. "527" refers to a section of the tax code governing such campaign groups. Stevens, who is running for senate re-election this year, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., this summer for failing to disclose sizeable gifts from an Alaskan oil company, including assistance with renovating a vacation home. While we still have a lot to learn about Palin's role as a fundraiser for Steven's 527, but her role as a reformer in Alaskan politics is somewhat tainted by her ties to Stevens and Alaskan oil companies.

Palin’s much touted executive experience is fraught with disturbing issues. She was investigated for abuse of power as Mayor and then as Governor of Alaska. An Anchorage Daily News item from December 1997 reports that Palin faced a recall as mayor of Wasilla, for firing the Police Chief. It appears the Chief and another city official was fired for "not fully supporting her efforts to govern.” As Governor she is being investigated for attempting to fire her brother in law, a state trooper, who was involved in a bitter custody debate with Palin’s sister. In her defense, Palin insists the trooper in question threatened her family, yet there is not police report form the time she says the incident occurred.
Palin lied about supporting the “Bridge to Nowhere.” The Gravina Island Bridge would have linked the town of Ketchikan to its international airport, which is extremely difficult to get to by car, as it is on Gravina Island where there is currently only a ferry in place to shuttle people back and forth. The bridge in question would have been a great asset but was quickly labeled a pork barrel project by McCain and other members of the GOP. Palin echoed disapproval for the “Bridge to Nowhere” during her introductory speech, but it turns out she originally liked the idea. In fact, “We're going to build that bridge” became a common campaign slogan while running for Governor, especially when addressing the people of Ketchikan. It seems Palin is an accomplished liar, if nothing else.
Regarding the war Sarah, whose son is shipping out to Iraq on September 11, told students at her conservative Wasilla Assembly of God Church that America’s leaders were sending troops to Iraq on a “task that is from God.” She also said a proposed pipeline was a project sent from God and urged the assembled students to pray, and work together, to make God’s plan a reality, because God, according to Palin, wants to extract natural resources. And to think I used to worry about the current President’s infatuation with ancient mythology.
When reviewing these facts we are left with the irrefutable evidence that rather than being a political reformer or maverick, Sarah Palin is a radical right wing ideologue who appeals to such neo conservatives as James Dobson and Tony Perkins. Her appointment to the McCain ticket will ensure that Roe v Wade will be overturned, that faith based initiatives will continue to be funded and, if Sarah has her way, conservation, science and women’s rights, to name a few, will be turned back by about 100 years.

It is ironic that the first Republican woman on a major ticket is from the fringe neo-conservative movement that wants to suppress all individual freedoms, freethinking and scientific progress and return us the dark ages that the Christian right perceives as heaven on Earth.

Sources: Market Watch, Palin said War in Iraq and Pipeline are gods will, Rex Nutting, Sept 2, 2008, Alternet, Top Ten Most Disturbing Facts and Impressions of Sarah Palin, Alternet Staff, Sept, 2, 2008, Huffington Post, Police Chief: Palin Fired Me For Campaign Contributors, Sept. 3, 2008, Feminists for Life website Huffington Post, 2 Top Alaska Newspapers Question Palin's Fitness, Greg Mitchell, Aug, 30, 2008

Liar: The Truly Deceptive Nature of John McCain’s Politics

2008-10-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

Recently I wrote a post for Open Salon in response to an open call for letters on the topic of John McCain’s record of honesty or dishonesty. I chose to submit a post detailing McCain’s repeated lies regarding his support of veterans and their causes, because I felt it especially important to highlight McCain’s duplicity on a topic he seems to tout as his core value. In reality, there were any numbers of topics I could have chosen to illustrate the “Straight Talk” campaign is anything but, and should in reality more fittingly be called the “Double Speak” or “Forked Tongue” Campaign.

McCain constantly lies regarding his record, the record of his vice presidential pick, and the record of his opponents, with each lie ranging from the outrageous to the sleazy, but he is not alone. Ever since GW Bush took office and made an art form of naming things for their opposite reality, like the No Child Left Behind act that left all children without funding for the education program, the Clear Skies Act that supplanted and gutted the successful Clean Air act to weaken many environmental protections against air pollution, and of course the outrageous WMD lie that fueled the Iraqi war, deception has become a staple of Republican Politics. This verbal slight of hand, has led to some disastrous policy decisions, but seems to have become a permanent tactic in the Republican Party play book.

No one believes, of course, that politics is ever completely honest and free of any policy distortion or history rewriting, but the McCain campaign has slipped far beyond the normal pale. Time Magazine’s Joe Klein recently wrote, “In the early weeks of the general-election campaign, a consensus has grown in the political community — a consensus that ranges from practitioners like Karl Rove to commentators like, well, me — that John McCain has allowed his campaign to slip the normal bounds of political propriety.” If Karl Rove criticizes someone for dishonesty one has to know it is serious, considering Rove wrote the play book on dirty politics.

Some of the most obvious and outrageous lies McCain has been telling pertain to his own record, in which he says he supports veterans, or labor, or is an agent for economic oversight, or a patron of social equality for women. His own congressional voting record shows that he never supported one single veteran’s bill in the last 10 years, has a long record of voting against labor rights, and has repeatedly voted to ensure women and LGBT people would not have equal rights in the work place, or anywhere else in society.

McCain says he puts Country First but will vote to support corporate tax loopholes over populous interests every time. He has voted over and over again to cut taxes for oil and other corporate entities, while refusing to support tax cuts for the middle or lower classes.

McCain’s lies regarding Sarah Palin range from the mundane to the humorous. He calls her a reformer who took on the “old boys club” in Alaska even though she worked for the best well known “old boy” of them all, Ted Stevens, who is now being tried for corruption. He calls her the most popular governor in the nation despite reports from her state indicating she is not nearly so well liked, and he says he vetted Sarah Palin when in fact, he selected her by gut instinct rather than any well defined knowledge regarding her qualifications, or obvious lack of them.

McCain’s lies regarding Obama are even more outrageous. He lies when he suggests that Barack Obama favors a government-run health-care system when the truth is that Obama wants a market-based system subsidized by the government. McCain lied in his acceptance speech at the RNC when he said that Obama opposed offshore oil-drilling and the building of new nuclear-power plants, even after 38 million Americans heard Obama say in his speech at the DNC that he was open to both. McCain also ran one misleading political ad suggesting that Obama favored "comprehensive" sex education for kindergartners when in fact; the bill was aimed at teaching young children about sexual predatory dangers presented by pedophiles.

The absurd accusation that Obama was referring to Sarah Palin when he said McCain's effort to remarket his economic policies was putting "lipstick on a pig" was another clearly misleading attack by McCain, and an obnoxious diversionary tactic to allay attention from Palin's lack of fitness for the job by painting Obama as a sexist anti-Palin adversary.

It appears McCain’s campaign began to slide into the sea of half-truths and outright lies when he lost control of the one issue he expected to dominate; foreign policy. McCain was set to highlight his foreign policy experience over Obama’s by promoting his POW history, his support of the troop surge, and by touting his vague plan to win the war in Iraq. When Obama made his highly successful overseas visit and the Iraqi government announced they would support Obama’s Iraq strategy, McCain lost his hold on foreign policy, and perhaps the only policy in which he was able to dominate. It seems the only avenue left to McCain was the attempt to destroy his opponent through any means necessary, but mostly through deceit.
The lies, smears and half truths issued by McCain suggest that the campaign has decided “…its candidate can't win honorably, on the issues, so it has resorted to transparent and phony diversions.” While McCain continues to smear and distort the facts, the American people are left with the difficult task of seeking any glimmer of truth from a consummate liar with little remorse.
As the candidate’s spokesman Brian Rogers said to Politico regarding media criticism of McCain’s dishonest statements "We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.”

It appears McCain’s campaign is finally ready to try a little refreshing honesty and admit they are not focused on honesty, integrity or facts, but are instead focused on winning, at any cost.

Sources: Sierra Club, Clear Skies Proposal Weakens the Clean Air Act, Environmental Update. Time.com, John McCain and the Lying Game, Joe Klein, Sept 17, 2008..Time.com, A Brief History Of: 'Putting Lipstick on a Pig', Marti Covington and Maya Curry / Washington, Sep. 11, 2008. Time.com, Understanding John McCain, JAMES CARNEY AND MICHAEL GRUNWALD, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008. MSNBC, WHEELS COME OFF STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS? Mark Murray, September 13, 2008. NPR, Sen. Stevens Indicted In Graft Probe, Martin Kaste and Michele Norris, September 29, 2008. Consortiumnews.com, John McCain v. The Truth, Robert Parry, October 2, 2008. The United States Senate, Legislative Votes Record.

2008-09-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

The Bush White House and all mainstream media outlets seem to state, as absolute fact that the “surge” strategy is the single reason for the decrease in violence in Iraq. We hear John McCain tout the surge as his idea, and it is presented repeatedly as the only Iraq war idea that worked. It appears, however, that the “surge” of approximately 30,000 additional troops sent to Iraq in 2007 was only one reason and perhaps, according to Bob Woodward’s new book, The War Within, a secondary one for the decrease in violence.

Throughout the summer of 2007, as the troop surge in Iraq reached full strength, Gen. David H. Petraeus and the world was waiting for the tide of violence to turn, and by that summer’s end the General saw violence decline by nearly a 50 percent. Violence has continued to fall fairly regularly over the past year.

While Washington, in typical fashion, manipulated the facts to support their simplified view that the “surge was working” it appears the full story was far more complicated, with at least three other factors being equally, or more important than the troop increase. All of these important factors have been, for the most part, overlooked or downplayed by the mainstream media, but I have tried to concisely summarize them below.

Covert Operations
In the spring of 2007 the US Military and intelligence agencies launched a series of covert operations, using highly classified techniques that allowed them to locate, target and kill key individuals in various “terrorist” or other insurgent groups.
These techniques included a form of “collaborative warfare” which employed a combination of tools simultaneously and included signal intercepts human intelligence and any other method that would allow for “lightening quick and sometimes concurrent operations” according to Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) responsible for hunting al-Qaeda in Iraq.

According to Bob Woodward, “…a number of authoritative sources say the covert activities had a far-reaching effect on the violence and were very possibly the biggest factor in reducing it.” Some 85 to 90 percent of the operations were successful and provided “actionable intelligence” from new sources, methods and operations, according to sources cited by Woodward.

Anbar Awakening and Tribal Community Security Groups

In June of 2007 tens of thousands of Sunnis turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq and signed up with US forces. It appears Al-Qaeda in Iraq made several strategic errors in the region, including forced marriages with Sunni women, taking over hospitals and using Mosques for beheading operations.

Matters were further ignited when al-Qaeda in Iraq mortared playgrounds and left headless bodies lying around the countryside, with signs reading "Don't remove this body or the same thing will happen to you." The Sunnis revolted against the al-Qaeda brutality and sided with America to rid their country of a common enemy.

U.S. forces under Petraeus, worked for months with tribal leaders, who had once fought the Americans, to build local security forces throughout Anbar, and it is those forces who feel they were the actual driving force behind saving Iraq. "We are the ones who saved our country," Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha, who now serves as president of the Iraqi Awakening Council, said in an interview. "We were able to fight al-Qaeda."

The US military also set up a network of what Petraeus then called “Concerned Local Citizens” but which was later called The Sons of Iraq, to act as armed citizen watch groups and provide intelligence to US and Iraqi forces. These groups fed information to the Collaborative Warfare groups.

Shia Cleric Mogtada al-Sadr and pure luck

A third significant and lucky break in fighting came Aug. 29, when militant Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his powerful Mahdi Army to suspend operations, including attacks against U.S. troops.

This order came after a gunfight between his powerful Mahdi Army and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Karbala in which 50 Shia pilgrims were injured and another 275 were injured. Sadr’s order was motivated, not by good will, but by self preservation, as any leader knows it is bad PR for one’s followers to be gunned down by their own army.

The cease fire provided by al-Sadr was a stroke of luck for America, and helped feed the “surge is working fairy tale” that Washington has been spinning ever since. The danger in such simplification is that it glosses over the techniques, the cost and the alliances our government made to get these results.

I would much prefer to know what exactly my tax money, or rather the money my government is borrowing from China, is going toward, than to live under the false belief that 30,000 extra US Super troops could, single handedly, quash anti-US violence and subdue 3000 year old tribal religious warfare going on between Sunni and Shia.

I guess I will have to read Bob Woodward’s book to figure out what else my government has been up to in Iraq, because I know it is highly unlikely my government or the corporate owned media in this country will ever report the truth.

Sources: Washington Post.com Tribal Coalition in Anbar Said to Be Crumbling, Joshua Partlow and John Ward Anderson, June 11, 2007, Washing Post.com Why Did Violence Plummet? It Wasn't Just the Surge, Bob Woodward,Sept, 8, 2008

Wisconsin Child Dies While Parents Pray

2008-09-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

Dale and Leilani Neumann of Wausau Wisconsin have been charged with 2nd degree reckless homicide for letting their 11 year old daughter die of diabetes while they prayed for her recovery rather than seeking medical care.

Their family’s attorney is fighting the case saying that the courts, if the charges are allowed to continue, will “become entangled in constitutionally protected religious matters.” because the charges “…unconstitutionally infringe on their right to freely exercise their religion.”

An autopsy determined the child, Madeline Neumann, died from undiagnosed diabetes at the family's rural Weston home on Easter. Court records indicated that the girl most likely showed symptoms for weeks, and perhaps months, before she died.

Leilani Neumann, 40, indicated that the family believes that healing comes from God, and that they never expected their daughter to die because they prayed for her. Both parents considered the child’s illness a test of faith, and felt the child was under a spiritual attack that could be healed through prayer. They were shocked when she died.

Unfortunately, while the parents got the chance to practice the faith of their choice, the child paid the ultimate price for their archaic superstition. The Court will decide on Oct 3rd whether to charge them or not.

Sources: Associated Press, Robert Imrie, Sept. 2, 2008

Neo Nazis Infiltrating US Military in Iraq

2008-09-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

In 2006 the Intelligence Report revealed that white supremacists and neo-Nazi skin heads were taking advantage of lowered recruitment standards to infiltrate the US armed forces. Men like Matt Buschbacher and Forrest Fogart were well established neo Nazis before joining elite units in the US military.

Ten years ago Pentagon leaders tightened recruitment policies regarding members from extremist movements after the Oklahoma City bombing, which was committed by decorated Gulf War combat veteran Timothy McVeigh, and the murder of a black couple by members of a skinhead gang in the elite 82nd Airborne Division.

Since the rule changes, large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists continued to quietly infiltrate the military, but enlistment became easier after the Iraqi war, when Military recruiters and base commanders who came under intense pressure to fill the ranks, began to look the other way.

One might wonder why a neo-Nazi would want to join the US Military. There is, apparently, no better place to learn the art of destruction. For instance the soldiers, who join the MOS units, or Military Occupational Specialty units, learn how to disarm Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs), those nasty devices that explode all over Iraq. Apparently, the training to disarm these devices first entails learning to build one. The perfect skill for someone who believes, as one neo Nazi web poster and recent MOS recruit professed "Once all the Jews are gone the world will start fixing itself."

Forty members of Congress urged former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to launch a full-scale investigation and implement a zero-tolerance policy toward white supremacists in the military. U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, wrote in a separate open letter to Rumsfeld. "We witnessed with Timothy McVeigh that today's racist extremist may become tomorrow's domestic terrorist."

Unfortunately, neither Rumsfeld nor his successor, Robert Gates, enacted any sort of systemic investigation or crackdown to week out neo Nazi extremists, nor has there been any attempt by Military commanders to weed out extremists already recruited. New evidence suggests that the problem has grown as enlistment rates have continued to plummet, with the military accepting even lower quality of soldiers.

A new FBI report (PDF) indicates that white supremacist leaders are recruiting active-duty soldiers and combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan to join the white supremacist movement.

The report indicates that neo-Nazi leaders are targeting active duty military personnel without documented white supremacist histories or identifying tattoos to infiltrate the military as “ghost skins” in order to recruit and receive training specialized training that will ultimately benefit the movement.

The army is currently investigating several crimes, including homicide, committed by several members of white extremist neo-Nazi groups. No official action is being taken to restrict the number of neo-Nazi’s that enlist in the armed services.
Sources: .David Holthouse, Hate Watch

Lynchings Tied to Sorcery and Penis Theft

2008-08-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

Several attempted lynchings this week in the Congo were tied to rumors of penis theft by black magic. Thirteen suspected sorcerers are accused of using black magic and curses to steal or make the penises of several men disappear. Reports of penis snatching is not uncommon in the superstitious West Condo were rumors of sorcery are frequent topics of radio call in programs, and neighborhood gossip.

Fourteen victims accused the sorcerers of stealing or shrinking their penises by touching them on the arm during bus or taxi rides, and then extorting money for a cure. In response, several of the victims attempted to lynch the offending sorcerers. “You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you…” said Kinshasa’s police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, “We've had a number of attempted lynchings.”

It might sound like a joke, but not to the victimized men, who are completely convinced that their penises are gone, or that they are impotent, despite the fact that there is no rational evidence or proof. When one is dealing with sorcery, apparently, no amount of rationality will override the evidence provided by fear.

Sources:
Joe Bavier: Reuters: http://uk.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUKL2290323220080422?sp=true

Sense of Fair Play tied to Serotonin Levels

2008-08-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

Are you a person that gets really combative and aggressive, or grouchy when you don’t eat? Are you one of those people who are uncomfortable in social situations, or who are unusually sensitive to being treated unfairly? It turns out your serotonin levels may contribute to more than just depression or compulsive disorders. In a new Science study, UCLA and Cambridge researchers report that people with low serotonin levels were found to be more sensitive to being treated unfairly.

A new study, published in the June 6 issue of Science suggests that the neurotransmitter serotonin, which has long been known to act as “…a chemical messenger between nerve cells…” and has been recognized to play “… a critical role in regulating emotions such as aggression during social decision-making…” is also responsible for turning on the brains “reward circuitry.”

The study suggests that the “human brain responds to being treated fairly the same way it responds to winning money and eating chocolate; being treated fairly turns on the brain's reward circuitry.”

The study involved 20 subjects who were each presented with several offers, some skewed and some fair, for dividing sums of money. If they declined the offer neither they, nor the person making the offer would receive anything. After this round of initial offers and responses were recorded, participants were given a drink that “significantly reduced” their serotonin levels before a second round of offers began.

The study discovered that participants rejected 82 percent of the unfair offers when their serotonin levels were reduced as compared to only rejecting 67 percent of the unfair offers when their serotonin levels were normal. The report concluded that people with low serotonin levels were more likely to reject unfair offers.

Serotonin levels can fluctuate in regard to how regularly we eat, since “the essential amino acid necessary for the body to create serotonin can only be obtained through diet…” which suggests that a person’s perception of fairness can also fluctuate. What I view, for instance, as fair on the day I have three full meals, may differ from the day I skip breakfast.

It seems the study proves that the human sense of fairness is not based on rational processes, and unlike the solid mathematical formulas we learn, fairness is a fluid and fluctuating process that flows with the levels of our brain chemistry.

Sources:
UCLA Eureka Alert: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-06/uoc--sma060608.php
Science: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1155577
About.com: http://depression.about.com/b/2008/06/10/serotonin-levels-related-to-sense-of-fairness.htm

Anti-Christ Misses Day in Divorce Court

2008-08-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

Anti-Christ Misses Day in Divorce Court
Luis De Jesus Miranda, minister of the Miami Growing in Grace church, gained international notoriety in 2004 by declaring himself to be Jesus Christ, and then later claiming to be the Antichrist. He maintains that he is the Second Coming and that his teachings supersede those of Jesus.

His powerful and charismatic influence over the congregation of Growing Grace was in evidence when they all showed up in mass recently, to get the numbers 666 tattooed on their bodies, in honor of their “messiah.” At home, he had a dutiful and obedient wife who lovingly washed his feet and clipped his toenails to show her devotion, but that all came to an end in one of the most unspiritual of places, a divorce court.

The Miami Herald reported in June that the minister was forced, for the first time, to give testimony revealing how he paid personal expenses with donations to his tax-exempt church. Following the testimony the judge in their divorce case sent a transcript of the hearing to federal prosecutors, saying he felt "ethically compelled" to bring the fiscal abuses to their attention and, it was not long after that de Jesus disappeared.

This week the minister was declared in contempt of court for failure to pay alimony to his soon-to-be ex-wife. Their divorce trial went ahead without him, with wife Josefina de Jesus Torres alleging abuse, abandonment and infidelity. Torres backed up her claims of infidelity with descriptions of how, during their marriage, de Jesus cast her off for another woman in Houston -- a woman his inner circle now calls his ``wife.''

Torres also claimed to be abused when her husband pushed her against a fence on one occasion, and emotionally abused her on others by threatening to send ''angels of destruction'' to her and her children.

She's seeking half of both the Growing in Grace church assets and his personal property, which her attorneys argue are the same because they claim de Jesus controls the church's finances, all of which, Torres claims add up to $2.2 million.
De Jesus claims poverty, and his daughter, JoAnn de Jesus, the ministry's finance manager, testified that because of a drop in donations, due to all the publicity surrounding the divorce, the church is two months behind on the rent at its Doral headquarters, and she is hoping for ''a miracle'' that will allow them to stay. Several church members implied that Torres' statements criticizing de Jesus in the press played a role in the financial problems.

De Jesus' tax attorney testified that, based on his interactions with an Internal Revenue Service investigator, he believes a fraud investigation is under way. A spokeswoman for the IRS said she could not confirm or deny the existence of an inquiry.

De Jesus and his followers have been fighting back, outside the court room. Recently they sent a video to supporters showing a woman, who claims she was Torres’ lesbian lover when Torres met de Jesus, and who suggests Torres set out to entrap de Jesus for his money. There is no corroboration for the claim on the video, but the attack smacks of political smear campaigns used in Republican Party politics.
Meanwhile, Torres reports receiving threats from various church members while those same Growing Grace members say they have spoken to de Jesus but have no idea where he is. For an anti-Christ he’s keeping a remarkably low profile these days.

Sources:
Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/1060/story/654101.html
Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/654335.html

UN Accuses US Coalition Troops in Afghanistan of Killing 90 Civilians

2008-08-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

AP-Kabul
The United Nations announced today that it has found “convincing evidence” 90 civilians, including 60 children were killed by US coalition troops and Afghan forces in western Afghanistan.

The U.N. findings were based on eyewitness testimony of villagers and meetings with Afghan officials. No photo or other evidence was provided.

Associated Press released several photos of civilians injured, however, including one of Zinat Gul, 24, who was allegedly wounded by the U.S. air strike in Shindand district. She was photographed while lying in a hospital bed in Herat, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, Aug. 25, 2008

Afghan President, Hamid Karzai's in a harshly worded statement called for a negotiated end to "air strikes on civilian targets, uncoordinated house searches and illegal detention of Afghan civilians.”

The U.S. coalition reported killing 25 militants and five civilians in an operation in Shindand district of Herat province on Friday.

U.S.-led coalition troops, which were supporting Afghan commandos during the raid, said they believe that 25 militants, including a Taliban commander, and five civilians were killed during the Friday raid in Azizabad village of Herat province. The top coalition commander in the country has ordered an investigation.

Karzai's statement appears to condemn the actions of both international forces operating in Afghanistan: the U.S.-led coalition, which conducts Special Forces counterterrorism operations and trains the fledgling Afghan army and police, and the U.N.-mandated NATO-led force tasked to provide security for the war-ravaged nation.

The UN accusation will likely fuel tensions among the various military groups in Afghanistan.

Afghan Presidential spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, said Tuesday that the statement was issued after Afghan officials "lost patience" with foreign forces, and the killings and detentions of civilians during raids in remote villages.

"We do not want international forces to leave Afghanistan until the time our security institutions are able to defend Afghanistan independently," Hamidzada clarified to reporters Tuesday, “but the presence of those forces has to be based "within the framework of Afghan law with respect to international law," Hamidzada said.
Hamidzada also pointed out that "Afghanistan of 2001 is different from Afghanistan today," He said the government has not discussed any timetable for the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan.

Capt. Mike Windsor, a spokesman for the NATO-led force, said the force had seen media reports about the government's decision but had not received "any official notification so far." He pointed out that NATO's "mission is based on a U.N. mandate and carried upon the invitation of the Afghan government."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters Monday that foreign forces in Afghanistan "take every precaution to try to avoid innocent civilian casualties." He said as far as the attack in question, the Defense Department believes "it was a good strike."

The decision also comes a year ahead of Afghanistan's presidential elections amid growing criticism that Karzai's government is unable to contain the insurgency and deal with the deep-rooted corruption that afflicts officials in the government.
Karzai has said he will run in the election. No date has been set yet.

Sources:
Yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080826/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan
Salon: http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/world/2008/08/26/D92Q046G1_afghanistan/index.html

Rangers Remove Snacks Dragons get Cranky

2008-08-25T16:51:00.001-07:00

The Wall Street Journal, now owned by Fox News media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is blaming environmental policies for increased attacks by Komodo dragons against humans living and working in Komodo National Park, on the Komodo Island in the Flores Sea.

Humans have traditionally left deer and sheep offerings for the carnivorous lizards, the largest in the world, but recent laws banning such offerings have, in the words of one villager, made the dragons “angry with us.”
Park, officials curtailed the sheep sacrifices (performed mainly for tourists) and deer hunting, on the advice of American environmental agencies, saying a healthy deer population is vital to the dragons’ survival. What The Wall Street Journal failed to emphasize was that the increased human population within the park, where there is roughly twice as many humans to the 2,500 dragons, is largely to blame for the increase in attacks. The official Komodo Park website, lists under threats, humans and human activities, like tourism and fishing, as the biggest threats to the islands ecosystems and biodiversity.

While neo conservative forces would like us to believe that conservation is behind global warming and species extinction, all we have to do is take a look in the mirror to find those truly responsible.

Sources:
Newser: http://www.newser.com/story/35695/treats-banned-komodo-dragons-get-nasty.html
Komodo National Park: http://www.komodonationalpark.org/
World Zoo: http://www.zoo.org/komodo/index.html

Gang Members Kill Suspected Gay Member

2008-08-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

Two members of a Baltimore-area gang have been charged with killing a fellow gang member they believed was gay.

While MI5 in the UK is actively recruiting gays and lesbians, and the states of California and Massachusetts in the US are allowing them to marry, there are harsh reminders, on a deplorably regular basis, that being gay in our society, is still one of the most dangerous and hated incarnations one can be.

While I think Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender, and Bisexual people would make excellent spies because we are extremely adept at covertly infiltrating society and maneuvering our way through life without being detected, I seriously doubt anyone who doesn’t have to live that way would really risk the danger involved in choosing such a closeted life style.

In May, 18 year old Steven Parish, of Baltimore, Maryland was maneuvering through his life in the machismo environment of the notorious Bloods gang, when his secret identity was uncovered. According to court charging documents, filed August 14th, Steven Hollis and Juan Flythe believed Parish was gay when they found suspicious text messages on Parrish’s cell phone, and became concerned that a gay member would make the gang seem weak.
The autopsy report showed that Parrish died as a result of blunt-force and stabbing injuries. He also suffered a stab wound to the chest and 50 superficial cuts.“Like most hate crimes,” said Dan Frumansky, executive director of Equality Maryland, “the graphically violent details of this incident are a jarring reminder to us all that we live in a culture where being perceived as LGBT for some people is a crime above all others.”
The Baltimore Sun reported that on the day before Parrish’s death, several gang members met at Parrish’s house, where they conferred about finding “gay” text messages on his phone. It was determined at that meeting, according to police documents, “…that Steven Parrish ‘had to go.”

We have no idea what text messages set this horrible tragedy in motion, but we have heard this story, in various iterations, over and over again. A group of friends, acquaintances, etc. discovers one of their members is gay and must be eradicated from the group before further contamination occurs. We hear statistics every day about how dangerous it is to be a black male in this country, about how young black men are more likely to be shot by a gun than any other group. We forget, I think, that LGBT are members of every other group, making it exponentially more dangerous be gay.

Sources:
The Washington Blade: http://www.washblade.com/2008/8-22/news/localnews/13131.cfm
Govt Bulletin on Gun Victims:http://www.ovc.gov/publications/bulletins/gun_7_2001/gun2_2_01.html\
FBI Report on Hate Crimes:http://www.lambda.org/ncavp_hc_2003.pdf

Christians Want Bibles Back from Chinese Govt

2008-08-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

The Vision Beyond Borders is a group based in Sheridan, Wyoming that distributes bibles and Christian teaching materials around the world. The VBB web site states:
Many of the six billion people on the earth have never heard of the name of Jesus Christ. The disciples were sent out to preach the Good News of Jesus to the far reaches of the world. We believe that Vision Beyond Borders is helping to fulfill that commission with the same urgency found in first-century Christianity.

When the Vision Beyond Borders group arrive in China with boxes full of bibles they were shocked to find their bibles confiscated by Chinese customs. Seems no one told Pat Klein, and the other VBB members, that Bibles in China are printed under the strict supervision of the Communist government. Bibles in the officially atheistic country are, in fact, only allowed to be used in government-sanctioned churches, and in some big hotels catering to foreigners.

"I heard that there's freedom of religion in China, so why is there a problem for us to bring Bibles?" said Klein, during a phone interview with the associated press. He seemed stunned that his 300 bibles, which were printed in Chinese, were being held by the Chinese government, and was determined to get them released.

Klein said customs officers had told him they could each have one Bible for personal use, but no more than that. He said the officers had videotaped them and were insisting they leave the airport. "We don't want to go without taking those books. It cost us a lot of money to bring them here," Klein said. "They're saying that it's illegal to bring the Bibles in and that if we wanted to, we had to apply ahead of time for permission.”

Why Klein thought China practiced freedom of religion is unknown, since China has regularly faced criticism for repression of religious freedom. Religious practice is heavily regulated by the Communist Party, and worship is only allowed in party-controlled churches, temples and mosques, with those gathering outside approved facilities risking harassment, arrest and terms in labor camps or prison.

Source: http://www.vbbonline.org/
http://www.concordmonitor.com

7 year old boy on TSA Watch List

2008-08-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

If you are in a profession that requires frequent air flight, as I was, the shift in TSA security after 9/11 was an interesting evolution from bored complacency to incompetence and inanity that made travel maddening but, also much more interesting. To be fair, I should say that even before 9/11, I apparently fit some profile that triggered the TSA to go into hyper drive, because I had been stopped and had my bags routinely searched long before it became routine. It always amused me to speculate that some doppelganger was out there in the world committing criminal offenses that made me a target for airline security, but recent disclosures regarding TSA’s modus operandi would make their motivations more likely random and far less likely to be driven by any sort of plan.

The Terrorist Watch List has become the primary source for security intelligence used by TSA since 9/11, though how intelligent it might actually be can be debated. In 2004, the Anderson family of St Paul, Minneapolis was traveling to Disneyland when they were stopped by TSA security at Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport, because their then 2 year old son, Jack was on the Terrorist Watch List. TSA agents were understandably stunned to see their terrorist suspect snoozing in a stroller with a pacifier dangling from his mouth, but did not remove his name. Two years later, the family was stopped again while attempting to fly, and has now given up trying to fly all together. Jack Anderson, who is now seven, says “I don’t understand why I am a terrorist.” Neither do we, Jack.

The TSA Watch List, which was implemented after 9/11 and intended to be a compiled list of known terrorists, or other characters who might want to harm American travelers, was meant to be used by Airlines to screen for terrorist trying to travel to the US by air. The Watch List is, in reality, a much more comprehensive list that includes any American with common names like Robert Johnson, John Williams and David Nelson, including several members of the U.S. Congress, like Sen. Edward Kennedy and Reps John Lewis, Don Young and Loretta Sanchez, all of who have reported problems flying. Along with the approximately 1 million other names on the Terrorist Watch List, are the 9/11 terrorists and Sadam Hussein, despite the fact they are deceased, but what the Watch List does not contain are the names of the world’s most wanted terrorists, because TSA does not want to share that information with the airlines. (Ironically For Security Reasons)

You might feel that any problems with TSA and the Watch List are worth it, if they are keeping you safe, but the truth is, the program has shown totally ineffective in nabbing terrorists, unless you count people like Jack Anderson, though they have managed to pick up a few felons fleeing outstanding warrants. According to a report by the Government Accountability Office, from December 2003 through May 2007, the government had more than 53,000 official encounters with individuals on the Terrorist Watch List. However, “agencies reported arresting subjects of watch list records for various reasons hundreds of times, such as the individual having an outstanding arrest warrant or the individual’s behavior or actions during the encounter. No terrorists, just the common crooks that might have been caught by airport security before 9/11.

In addition to being added to the Terrorist Watch List if you happen to have a common name, you can also get added to the list if you irritate someone at TSA. Recently, after reporting on problems with the TSA program, CNN reporter Drew Griffin found himself added to the Watch List.
An additional concern regarding security and personal liberty pertains to occasions when one might fly or travel into the US from a foreign country. If a Boarder Patrol or TSA agent asks to see you cell phone, laptop, etc you better hand them over, because thanks to the Patriot Act, and greater power being bestowed on TSA and Boarder Patrols, the U.S. government can seize your laptop, cell phone or PDA and download all your private information—all without a warrant or probable cause.

So, what does TSA have planned for the future? According to the ACLU:
TSA is currently using see-through body scanning machines which are capable of projecting an image of a passenger's naked body like a virtual strip search, researching the creation of an "electro-muscular disruption" bracelet that would give airline personnel or air marshals the power to shock a person into submission and adding approximately 20,000 new names a month to the Terrorist Watch List.

So if you have a common name, you might want to consider getting familiar with Amtrak schedules.

Sources: ACLU, Management Travel News, MSNBC, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune (Aug.5) CNN

Child Killed in Honour Killing

2008-08-14T17:35:00.000-07:00

Honour Killing is generally defined as the murder of a female member of a family by the family, when they (and maybe the wider community) believe her to have brought dishonor upon them. A woman can be targeted commonly for: refusing an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce—even from an abusive husband—or committing adultery. Basically, these killings result from the perception that defense of the "family honor" justifies killing a woman whose behavior "dishonors” that family.

Recently, in Riyadh, a young woman was killed by her father, a Saudi man working with the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or Religious Police, because she converted to Christianity. The girl, who used several nicknames, including, Rania, wrote several blog posts regarding her religious conversion, and indicating her life had become an ordeal after her other family members had grown suspicious following a religious discussion with them. Sources close to the victim indicated that Rania’s father apparently cut the tongue of the girl and burned her to death following a heated debate on religion.The death of the girl sent shockwaves through the internet community, and the websites where the victim used to write her posts have allocated special space to mourn her, “While some others closed temporarily in protest.”

It has been common practice for Saudi religious scholars to warn against the dangers of Christian websites and satellite TV channels, which they claim, attract Muslim youngsters to change their religion. Muslim leaders have determined partaking of such dangerous multi-media is against the teachings of Islam.

The “Free Copts” website published a message which it received from a friend of the victim, revealing that the killer, her Father, is in police custody and that he is being investigated for an honour related crime.
http://www.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi ... 36558.html

Sexual Morality, Music and Censorship

2008-08-07T18:16:00.000-07:00

Recently while skimming through discussion threads on the Richard Dawkins forum, I was attracted to a thread discussing uproar by some members over the number of sexually themed discussion threads, with several members very upset over the number and the type of topics being discussed. The topics ranged from serious non religious based ethical queries into such topics as how one should view homosexuality or how one should define pedophilia, to more superfluous topics such as how long the perfect sexual encounter should take.

As I began reading through the different posts, which varied from disgust over the titles and content to disgust that the content exists on the forum at all, I noticed that member suggestions varied from some thinking the titles should just be ignored, to other members suggesting sexual topics should be coded or hidden to indicate “adult topic,” while other members called any action censorship. Some members were concerned about the fact that younger forum members might be too impressionable for such sexual content, or that such content might give outsiders the wrong image of atheists in general. As I read along, I was at first both gratified and amused over the wide range of differing opinions proffered by my free thinking atheist and agnostic correspondents, but then I began to feel a nostalgic tug. I wasn’t able to identify the source of my nostalgia right away, but then Tipper Gore came to mind, and I was mentally transported back to early 1990s.

In the early 1990s I was the mother of two young children who, as children are fond of doing, liked to spend their after school and weekends hours playing in a neighborhood park where lots of other kids liked to play. I would sit on a bench near other parents, and we would watch the kids play while a specific group of mothers, who I nicknamed the “mommy brigade” would talk. I usually tried not to listen too carefully to what I generally considered insipid talk of diaper brands and husband trouble; I could not help, however, but be drawn into a conversation one particular day about adult content on television. The “mommy brigade” had started a letter writing campaign to get some television show taken off the air because it had depicted two men kissing. They were all aflutter about how awful it was that this show was on during “prime time” viewing hours and how it was going to corrupt the morals and values of their children. I listened to them go on for awhile but then couldn’t help to interject with a simple question, “Why,” I asked, “didn’t they just change the channel?” After a minute of incredulous silence I was informed that someone had to watch and monitor the filth on TV so that it could be detected and acted upon. It was futile, I knew, to point out that two men kissing was not what I considered filth, and could be a good opportunity to teach the value of tolerance, so I asked instead “Why not just, you know, ignore it?”

“You don’t understand,” I was told, “it’s not just our children, but all children we have to protect, even those whose parents don’t have the good judgment to shield them from such immorality.”

I remember that conversation so well, because Tipper Gore was a mother much like those in the “mommy brigade” who thought it was her job to protect the children of America from smut, too. In 1985, Tipper Gore’s 11 year old daughter, who apparently had much better taste in music than her mother, bought a Prince album, and the history of music censorship in America changed forever. It suddenly became the government’s business to tell American parents what music our children could safely listen to by putting warning labels on music, including much of the music people in my generation grew up listening to. In an interesting development, it seemed those in charge of music censorship were especially punitive with rap music, which I, and many others considered an expression of racism. Thanks to Tipper Gore, today you can buy music from Wal-Mart or Target with all the offensive words removed, and can feel safe that your children are not listening to music with sexually offensive language. (If they have internet access, however, they can find the uncensored versions quite easily, unless they live in, say, China.)

Censorship in America extends further than our music CDs, but also infects our news and TV networks as well. That is why there can be a huge anti-war protest in New York but have it be reported as a small media affair in California. I happen to be living, temporarily in an area where the local CBS affiliate has chosen to protect the people of this area from degradation by taking the show Swingtown off the air. The show is based on several couples in the godless era of the 1970s that are into wife swapping, recreational drug and group sex activities. It has received great reviews, and was great fun to watch, but the moralistic people of central Wisconsin cannot, apparently, be subjected to such evil.

Meanwhile sexual realities in this country are stunning. One in four children in the US has an STD, teenage pregnancy is on the rise, and studies have shown that oral and anal sex among female children who consider themselves “virgins” is off the charts. Meanwhile we hear every day about some previously pious politician or religious leader being ousted as Gay, or as being a customer of prostitution. Perhaps if we spent less time focused on the morality proscribed or shaped by religious dogma, we could spend less time trying to censor what these kids see and hear, and offer them an opportunity to learn about human sexuality in a realistic manner. Maybe, without censorship, we could have a realistic dialogue about the myriad nature of human sexuality in all its glorious, humorous and pitiful forms, withholding judgment and offering instead, compassion, instruction, and most of all, understanding.

Unfair Criticism of PZ Myers and other Secular Scientists

2008-08-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

On July 31, 2008 Salon.com posted an articled titled: What's wrong with science as religion, by Karl Giberson. Giberson, who has a PhD in physics and is the author of “Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and believe in Evolution” was responding to a July 24th web posting by PZ Meyers on Meyers’ blog Pharyngula. (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/) In the web posting Meyers stuck a rusty nail in a communion cracker, and then used the nail to impale pages of the Qur’an and Richard Dawkin’s “The God Delusion,” before throwing them all in a garbage can. The exercise was performed in an effort to demonstrate the importance of remaining free from the influence of dogma.

Seeming to shares in “Myers' enthusiasm for fresh eyes, questioning minds and the power of science…” Giberson says he also worries”…about dogmatism and the kind of zealotry that motivates the faithful to blow themselves up, shoot abortion doctors and persecute homosexuals.” Giberson also worries, however, “about narrow exclusiveness that champions the scientific way of knowing to the exclusion of all else. “I don't like to see science turned into a club to bash religious believers…” and he considers “…PZ Meyers a science crusader and true believer with the “singled-minded enthusiasm of a televangelist.”

Giberson admits that “…Myers doesn't seem to like me.” Maybe Myers doesn’t like him because, when interviewed by Salon.com about his new book, “Saving Darwin” Giberson indicated there “might be a reality beyond science, and that religion might be about God and not merely about the human quest for a nonexistent God.” Giberson believes that Christianity and evolution are complementary, not incompatible, and he seeks a “middle way.”

Comparison is made by Giberson between Meyers, and other famous secular scientists and writers, to evangelical preachers of the 1700s, saying “Myers' confident condemnations put me in mind of that great American preacher, Jonathan Edwards, who waxed eloquent in his famous 1741 speech, Sinners at the Hands of an Angry God, about the miserable delusions that lead humans to reject the truth and spend eternity in hell.” He suggests that Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Myers are a new type of preacher, men of the scientific cloth, “Like their traditional counterpart, the new preachers speak with great confidence that their religion -- science -- contains all the truth we need to know and all the truth that can be known. They call us to worship at the altar of science, a summons of which I am skeptical, to say the least.”

The arguments Giberson poses regarding PZ Meyers’ scientific evangelism fall flat, of course, since the very web blog he is criticizing was meant to promote free thought, not dogmatic adherence to a specific school of ideology. PZ Meyers chose the communion wafer, the Qur’an, and the God Delusion for a reason; he wanted to impress upon us the importance for vigilance, for keeping our minds open, free of dogmatic clutter from any source. As for Richard Dawkins, he himself says he ranks himself somewhere between strong agnostic and pure atheist because to say there is no God without evidence equals the zeal with which theists claim there is a God. Christopher Hitchens is extremely respectful of all religious practices, despite his atheistic beliefs. Perhaps, if Dr. Giberson’s perceptions were less obscured by his own dogmatic affinities, he could more clearly see the truth about those he chooses to malign.

China revokes visa of gold medalist, Darfur activist Cheek

2008-08-06T14:18:00.001-07:00

Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek has had his visa revoked by the Chinese government for his ardent support of the Sudan region of Darfur. Cheek is the founder of Team Darfur, a group of 70 athletes who work to raise global awareness about human-rights in Darfur. China has military, economic and diplomatic ties to the despotic government of Sudan which has been directing a systematic program of genocide against people in the Darfur region.

Cheek released a prepared statement:
"I am saddened not to be able to attend the Games. The Olympic Games represent something powerful: that people can come together from around the world and do things that no one thought were possible. However, the denial of my visa is a part of a systemic effort by the Chinese government to coerce and threaten athletes who are speaking out on behalf of the innocent people of Darfur."

China should be held accountable for its contemptible support of the Sudanese government.

Repealing the Don't Ask Don't Tell Law

2008-08-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

Those of us, who never considered serving in the military, might also never consider what it would mean to hide our sexuality while performing a difficult and dangerous job. The military, as we have all seen in movies and documentaries, is a culture of its own, one that fosters interdependence and deep trust to ensure personal safety in dangerous situations. How the authors of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law planned for that trust to be developed in an environment of mistrust and dishonesty they didn’t bother to explain. Since most homophobic attitudes are based on religious or other misinformed ideological dogma, they have no place in US laws, and should be expunged permanently.

On Wednesday July 23rd, for the first time since 1993, the Congressional House Subcommittee on Military Personnel of the Armed Services Committee held an oversight hearing to review the military’s disastrous Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) law. A large coalition of organization including the Human Rights and Campaign, Service Members Legal Defense Network, but the military witnesses who testified provided the most eloquent impetus for supporting repeal of the law.

"Major General Vance Coleman (Ret.), who served in the U.S. Army for more than 30 years, told the panel about his own personal experience of being devalued for arbitrary reasons: "I know what it is like to be thought of as second-class, and I know what it is like to have your hard work dismissed because of who you are or what you look like...It is bewildering and counter-intuitive to me that we maintain a federal law that says, no matter how well a person does his or her job, no matter how integral to their unit they are, they must be removed, disrespected and dismissed because of who they happen to be, or who they happen to love."(http://www.hrcbackstory.org/)

“Staff Sergeant Eric Alva (Ret.), a dear, dear member of the HRC family, spoke of his frustration at being deemed at once a hero and unworthy of service: "I received the Purple Heart, along with visits from the President and First Lady. I was told I was a hero. That landmine may have put an end to my military career that day, but it didn't put an end to my secret. That would come years later, when I realized that I had fought and nearly died to secure rights for others that I myself was not free to enjoy. I had proudly served a country that was not proud of me."(http://www.hrcbackstory.org/)

"Captain Joan E. Darrah (Ret.), who served for nearly 30 years in the U.S. Navy, gave dramatic testimony on the immense strain of serving under DADT: "On Tuesday, September 11, I was at the Pentagon attending the weekly 8:30 intelligence briefing...When American Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon, I was at the Pentagon bus stop. As it turned out, the space I had been in seven minutes earlier was completely destroyed. Seven of my co-workers were killed. The reality is that if I had been killed, my partner, then of 11 years, would have been the last to know as I had not dared to list her in my emergency contact information."(www.hrcbackstory.com/)

We can hope that sanity prevails and DADT is repealed, after all, reason and rationality have to prevail once and awhile.

50 Lose Sight Seeing Virgin Miracle

2008-07-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

When I was a very young child in rural Texas, a strange annual event would happen each summer during the hottest time of the year. A large white tent would be set up in a park near my grandparent’s church, and lots of little metal chairs would be set up around a small raised platform with a microphone. For several nights in a row my grandparents would take me to this event they called a “tent revival” and we would listen to a rather portly sweaty man tell us colorful stories from the New Testament, and warn us in theatrical tones about the evil of brimstone and fire. (All Baptists are very familiar with this concept.) I would sit in my metal chair fanning myself against the humidity with a paper fan and watch as people around me swayed back and forth, moaning “amen” in time with the sweaty preacher’s vocal undulations. Inevitably, as the crescendo of preaching neared, someone would fall onto the sawdust covered floor and begin writhing around while speaking gibberish (Speaking in Tongues).

The first time this happened it scared me so awfully that my grandfather had to take me outside where he explained something very important. He told me I didn’t need to worry, because, he explained with disgust, some people just liked to make themselves the center of attention. The concept that those people writhing on the floor looking like they were having an epileptic fit were actually faking to get attention was a concept a small child could easily understand. The sad part, I learned later, was that they didn’t think they were faking, they really believed the “holy spirit” had entered their bodies and spoke through them. (Though why he didn’t speak English if he was God, after all, I never understood.)

People continually look for signs of a mythic God that doesn’t exist, and because they can’t find any, they must create the occasional miracle, sometimes with horrible consequence. When I was skipping around the various forum threads on www.Richard.Dawkins.net, I came across a topic discussing 50 people losing their vision after staring at the sun in Thiruvananthapuram, India trying to see a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary.

It all started, apparently, when a local hotelier claimed his statues of Mother Mary started “crying honey and bleeding oil and perfumes” (Daily News Analysis). Rumor ensued “that a solar image of the Virgin Mary appeared to the believers,” and the faithful swarmed like bees to honey. Now one might wonder what motivates a local hotelier to claim such a miracle taking place at his establishment, but we can hypotheses that he did it, as my grandfather once said, “To get attention.” Maybe he craved attention for himself, or his business or for his faith, in any event he got plenty.

According to Daily News and Analysis:
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1152984
“St Joseph’s ENT and Eye Hospital has recorded 48 cases of vision loss due to photochemical burns on the retina. “The patients show varying degrees of severity. They are mostly girls in 12-26 age groups. Our youngest patient is 12 and the oldest 60. Most of them were looking at the sun between 2 and 4 pm, when UV1 and UV2 rays are harshest,” Dr James Isaac said.

“The health department has now put up a signboard at the hotelier’s house near Erumeli, where the divine image is said to have appeared, warning people against exposing their eyes to sunlight. Even the churches in the vicinity disowned the miracle during Sunday mass after health officers and doctors approached the clergy. “

I know it is easy to laugh at this article or dismiss it as the antics of “those crazy cult of Mary worshippers”; it is worth noticing, however, that the majority of those injured are young females. Once again the martyrs of religion are the weakest members of society, who are trying to seek blessing from a God they have been trained to believe exists. While the Catholic Church has cooperated in this specific matter: it has shown little concern for the burden placed on female believers/martyrs in the past. Catholic women who must produce a multitude of children because their church prohibits the use of birth control, or must risk getting HIV or AIDS because they can’t use condoms, or are required to allow their husbands to abuse them because divorce is a sin. The list of burdens goes on and on.

If the church really wanted to help these women it would advice them to quit looking for a miracle where none exists, but at the very least it could teach them that the image of Saints can always be seen through sunglasses.

Danger of Religion

2008-07-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

We hear many words to describe religion, but we rarely discuss the danger religion poses. To see the danger of religion one has only to read the daily news. Today, for instance, the AP news service reports that “Suicide bombers struck a Shiite pilgrimage in Baghdad and a Kurdish protest rally in northern Iraq on Monday, killing at least 57 people and wounding nearly 300….” We might make the mistake of attributing this violence to extremists of a certain religion or sect, but that ignores all the other violence perpetrated in the name of protestant and catholic religions in our own world.

In 1998 there were 25 violent attacks against abortion clinics or personnel, and while that number had decreased over the years, there is still an average of two violent attacks per each year. The majority of these attacks are attributed to religious zealots, not unlike the Muslim suicide bombers we hears so much about these days.

There are numerous attacks and murders of gay, lesbian and transgender people each year, many of which are based on ignorance bred by religious misinformation or suppression of sexuality. Poor young men like Mathew Shepard, killed in 1998 and Lawrence King in 2008 are the most recognizable, but only two out of the names that fill 50 pages of dead or assaulted on the Human Rights Commission List. (http://www.hrc.org/documents/A_Chronology_of_Hate_Crimes.pdf)

Religion is many things to many people, but to those of us who don’t participate in a religion and don’t believe in a God, religion can be dangerous or even deadly, and that is something we cannot afford to overlook in our discussions of religious relevance.

Logic Trumps Ideology, Finally

2008-07-22T17:27:00.001-07:00

Last week the US congress finally managed to reverse a law prohibiting anyone with the AIDS/HIV virus from visiting or immigrating to the US. The Law was established in 1987 and codified into law in 1993, when conservative ideology labeled AIDS the "gay" plague despite scientific and medical information suggesting the illness was much more widely spread.
The illness was used in conservative pulpits in America to preach hate against gay men, but the Catholic Church responded to the illness with its usual sense of creativity, actually teaching the faithful that condoms cause AIDS. Christopher Hitchens reports in God is Not Great that Cardinal Alfonso Lopes de Trujillo, the acting president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, warned a group of the devout that all condoms are secretly made with microscopic holes, through which the AIDS virus can pass. He also cites an Archbishop in Nairobi who suggested that women should prefer to die of AIDS as martyrs than use condoms.(45-46)
Here in the US we have been cutting back on money to AIDS programs that provide condoms (presumably without those nasty holes) and providing pseudoscience to suggest that abstinence programs work just as well. No suggestions of martyrdom though, so far.

Faith Based Initiatives violate Separation of Church and State

2008-07-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

Faith Based Initiatives for the Invisible Super friends

I read that Senator Obama wants to establish Faith Based funding initiatives. It makes me nervous when I start hearing elected officials in the government start talking about issues of faith for a number of reasons. As an atheist I feel uneasy contemplating the fact that a recent Pew poll (7/18/08) indicates 92% of my fellow Americans believe in an invisible being who watches over them, providing them with personal attention and guidance. If that isn’t enough to worry about now I have to worry about another President with an imaginary friend. It reminds me of a time when I was very young living in a college dorm and was puzzled after over hearing one of my roommates telling another that she had been praying whether she should get a phone installed in her room. She never got a phone, so presumably, her God never got back to her on that issue, but I remember thinking how awful it would be if I had to pray for guidance every time I needed to make a decision. How much can a President get done if he has to consult his invisible friend every time he has to make a decision?

It has never been easy being secular in America or really in any part of the world, and I believe that is probably because we are a fairly young species and have not outgrown many of the superstitions our ancestors created to deal with the dark and scary natural world in our not too distant past. I don’t know why some of us, like me, have no capacity for believing in those superstitions, while others, like my college roommate, can’t seem to function without them. I do know that the early settlers in America did not have it much easier.

After surviving years of tyrannical collusion between the ruling classes and the ruling Churches in Europe settlers to the “New World” were eager to escape the tightness of that yoke, so they brought their individual and unorthodox religions (from the view of the Official churches of Europe) with them to set up their own church states in America.. Back in 1779 when Thomas Jefferson, an early secular thinker, first proposed a Virginia state Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, the Episcopal Church, acting as the official “established” religion of the state quashed the act. The American colonies were at that time divided by their different ideologies both secular and religious. The Catholic Church, for instance, was the official Church of Maryland, and was so deeply entrenched that one could not hold office or even vote unless one proved allegiance to Mother Mary. Meanwhile other state required varying degrees of proof of ones affiliation with Lutherans, Methodists or Calvin Baptists. After the war for independence The Act for Establishing Religious Freedom was finally passed in Virginia in 1786 after James Madison wrote Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments. In Memorial Madison wrote:

If Religion be not within the cognizance of Civil Government, how can its legal establish be said to be necessary to Civil Government? What influence in fact have ecclesiastical establishments had on Civil Society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny: in no instance have they been seen the guardians of liberty of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it [liberty], needs them not.

These principles, first proposed by Jefferson and Madison in Virginia would become the bedrock for separation of church and state in the American Constitution. It has never been easy to be secular in America but our founders worked long and hard to make sure our government would remain a secular government free from the influence of any religious doctrine. We must, as American citizens, hold our elected officials to the standard our hard won constitution demands. We must oppose giving federal funding to faith-based organizations without holding them accountable for nondiscrimination and religious liberty protections dictated by the constitution.