OVO blog
Trevor Blake
P. O. Box 2321
Portland OR 97208-2321 USA
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OVO blog
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Trevor Blake: World-Wide Protest to Islamic Videos
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Hamas has broadcast an episode of a puppet-based television show for children in which President Bush is stabbed to death and the White House is converted into a mosque. Understandably, Muslims and non-Muslims alike around the world have protested against this film. The Iranian envoy to the Netherlands has been summoned to the Dutch embassy. Jordinians are protesting the film, the filmmakers have been banned from entering Indonesia, many in Malaysia are calling for a boycott against the nation where the film came from, the film's Web site has been hacked, Iran has called the film horrible, Afghanistan has expressed concern....
Ha ha, April fools! Actually the film encouraging children to kill Americans is okay, no worries. It's the film made up of videos shot by Muslims of Muslims acting on the orders of Muslims to carry out their duties as Muslims that is the problem. The film Fitna could have been made by Osma bin Ladin. It says little that the Muslims don't say about themselves. It's only when someone in the West says that killing people for thinking differently is not acceptable that the protests begin. Killing people is okay, but other people saying 'don't kill people' - why...  Trevor Blake: Bird Nest
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 This sign, photographed on 11 July 2007 in Portland OR, is no longer there. Labels: art, commerce, portland, transportation, trevorblake Trevor Blake: Christianity in the News
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The following is a summary of Christianity in the news...
Labels: christianity MTV: Fascism Happened...
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These two videos from think MTV [1] [2] are presented as a warning of what could happen in the United States of America. But they look to me like nothing so much as a depiction of what has been happening for quite some time as part of the war on drugs.
Labels: prohibition, television, video Trevor Blake: Fitna and the United Nations
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From Wikipedia: "Fitna is a film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Dutch parliament. The movie offers his views on Islam and the Qur'an." The film is available online from Wikileaks, Google Video, and via bittorrent.
Jorge Sampaio is the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations. Mr. Sampiao issues a call for respect and calm: The recent release of an insulting film on the Holy Qur'an seems to serve no other purpose than to cause offence. The film may provoke and prompt social unrest, and encourage extremist groups within European societies whose agenda is to discriminate against and marginalize Muslim immigrants. Similarly, this offensive film may add to tensions between different cultures and may give rise to the idea that Europe or the West as a whole are hostile to Islam. So let us always remember that misrepresentation fuels extremism and extremism appears to validate misrepresentation. That is the vicious circle we have to firmly oppose and avoid. We will all be the losers if we fail to immediately defuse this potential crisis, which will only serve to entrench already polarized opinions and to feed stereotypes and misconceptions that deepen patterns of hostility and mistrust among peoples and societies. At the core of this situation is a trend towards extremism in many of our societies. We should indeed beware of overemphasizing it, because extremism anywhere is extremism everywhere, thanks to new media technologies. Few people think of themselves as extremists, but many can be pushed towards an extreme point of view, almost without noticing it, when they feel that the behavior or language of others is extreme. We therefore deeply regret this offensive film. Mr. Sampaio's statement continues and may be read in full here. Fitna presents the words of the Qur'an as text, then shows Muslims and Muslim leaders reading that text and explaining what it means, then shows Muslims and Muslim leaders acting on that explanation. If the words, explanation and acts are murderous, it is not the fault of a film that reports such murders that is to blame. The tension between different cultures presented in the film are as follows. In the West there is a pluralism in which filmmakers can make films and cartoonists can make cartoons without the threat of State-sanctioned death; a pluralism in which homosexuals can be homosexuals without the threat of State-sanctioned death; a pluralism in which women can be women without the threat of genitals mutilation. In the Muslim world, there is a monoculture in which filmmakers and cartoonists and authors and people in buildings and people on buses and people on trains and people just about anywhere can be put to death; a monoculture in which homosexuals can be put to death; a monoculture in which women can have their genitals mutilated. The pluralism of the West tries to include the monoculture of the Muslim world, tries to greet as friends those who are murdering them. The Muslim world contains no such contradiction. Mr. Sampaio uses ideas of culture, race and religion interchangeably. To condemn Islam is to be racist, he seems to say. It is not the case that culture, race and religion are so interchangeable, and to make that claim is deceptive. This film may cause offense. The ten thousand men, women and children killed by Muslims since 11 September 2001 causes me more offense. How can it be that murder is a matter of culture while art is a criminal offense? The pluralism of the West has been perverted into cultural relativism. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made the following statement about Fitna: I condemn, in the strongest terms, the airing of Geert Wilders' offensively anti-Islamic film. There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence. The right of free expression is not at stake here. I acknowledge the efforts of the Government of the Netherlands to stop the broadcast of this film, and appeal for calm to those understandably offended by it. Freedom must always be accompanied by social responsibility. The United Nations is the centre of the world's efforts to advance mutual respect, understanding and dialogue. We must also recognize that the real fault line is not between Muslim and Western societies, as some would have us believe, but between small minorities of extremists on different sides with a vested interest in stirring hostility and conflict. This reads to me like nothing so much as a man encouraging his neighbors to continue paying 'protection money' to the gang that controls his neighborhood. The plain words of the Qur'an, the recorded speeches of Muslims and Muslim leaders, the video of Muslims using a hand knife to saw off the head of kidnap victims... somehow these are worthy of mutual respect, understanding and dialogue. It is a film that accurately portrays these that is hateful, not the acts themselves. It is a film that is to blame for inciting violence, not what the film portrays. This film should be banned by law, but somehow that is not a violation of the right of free expression. And once again we are offered the claim that the pluralism of the West is to be found in the Muslim world if the West will only keep quiet about the Muslim world's vested interest in stirring hostility and conflict. Once again we are told that the extremists are to found on both sides. But from where I'm sitting one side made films and cartoons and books, the other side kills people. I am disappointed by these two statements by United Nations representatives regarding the film Fitna and regarding Islam. Trevor Blake: At Every Turn in Its Thought...
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On 20 January 2008 I linked to Ran Ran Ru. Nineteen days later, so did Xeni Jardin at boingboing.
On 15 March 2008 I linked to Ride Offers Thrill of Looping. The next day, so did Cory Doctorow at boingboing. On 20 March 2008 I linked to Knuckle Tattoos. Eight days later, so did Mark Frauenfelder at boingboing. On 22 March 2008 I linked to Labor of Love. Two days later, so did Mark Frauenfelder at boingboing. On 24 March 2008 I linked to The Great Tantra Challenge. The next day, so did Cory Doctorow at boingboing. They're catching up to me as I (in turn) harvest good links from other blogs! Mostly, metafilter and Dark Roasted Blend. As J. R. "Bob" Dobbs said, If you want to be known as a creative, original person, make sure you imitate the right people. Labels: blog, trevorblake Trevor Blake: Art Exhibit April 2008 Portland OR
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 April 2008 Coffee Plant 724 SW Washington Labels: art, comics, portland, trevorblake Trevor Blake: Books By or About Me
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Book including work by Trevor Blake:
Books including Trevor Blake:
Also appearing in periodicals such as ReadyMade, Whole Earth Review, semiotext(e) and Maximum Rocknroll among many others. Labels: books, ovo, trevorblake
Klintron: Tragic story of the malign effects of religious ignorance
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Believe it or not, I'm not much of one for atheist evangelism (for lack of a better word). I'm just not that concerned with changing other people's personal beliefs (but of course I'm always willing to offer my opinions, and always trying to promote accurate information). I think there's a case to be made for religion as mental illness idea (and have pushed that idea myself), but when it really comes down to it most religious people (at least in the US) are mostly harmless. My friend and colleague Trevor Blake often points to a correlation between religious belief and committing violent acts. To paraphrase him, you never hear about atheists burning down Christian stores for sex, but you frequently hear about Christians burning down sex stores for Jesus. However, correlation and causation are not the same thing. We can learn from this that religion is not a necessary or sufficient source for morality, but little else. So my main concern, with regards to religion, is theocracy: when one group's superstitions become law. So I've stopped taking much note when an individual Buddhist priest is found guilty of molesting a woman, or someone commits a murder in the name of their religion. There are laws against these sorts of things, and I'm not sure someone commits these sorts of acts because they’re religious, or if their attraction to religion stems from the same source as their attraction to rape and violence. In other words, I'm not sure religion is a symptom or a disease. I'm more concerned with sovereign nations that organize child-rape syndicates and the institutional oppression and murder of women and homosexuals in countries like Saudi Arabia. Sometimes it's not so cut and dry, though. One kicker is parents and their children. I was raised Christian, and I think I turned out ok. I could have done without the paranoia inspired by the notion of an invisible monster watching everything I did, but I don't hold it against my parents. So I'm generally inclined to believe that parents should be free to teach their kids whatever sort of nonsense they want, and that if the kids are smart they'll grow out of it eventually. But what happens when parents take it too far? Recently, an 11 year old girl died of a treatable form of diabetes because her parents choose to pray instead of seek medical help (via Pharyngula). This obviously crosses the line between believing something crazy and behaving in a malicious way. What is the response of the local police? At least the case is being investigated, but how can the police chief say there is no abuse? I know people who have had their kids taken away from them temporarily for far less. Sadly, this is not without precedent. Trevor wrote last year about parents who withhold medical treatment for religious reasons. None of the parents of children who died preventable deaths were charged with a crime. This is not a case of religious freedom, or of individual belief. It's theocracy. If the parents had let their children die for any reason other than religion, they would be charged with crimes and their other children would be taken into state care. Labels: buddhism, christianity, islam, libertarian, theocracy
Bill Gertz: Outsourced passports netting govt. profits, risking national security
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The United States has outsourced the manufacturing of its electronic passports to overseas companies - including one in Thailand that was victimized by Chinese espionage - raising concerns that cost savings are being put ahead of national security, an investigation by The Washington Times has found.
The Government Printing Office's decision to export the work has proved lucrative, allowing the agency to book more than $100 million in recent profits by charging the State Department more money for blank passports than it actually costs to make them, according to interviews with federal officials and documents obtained by The Times. [Article continues at link. The nice thing and the ugly thing about government is that it is not a business. It is not supposed to make a profit or even break even. Money saved in this way is penny wise and pound foolish. - Trevor Blake]Labels: money Trevor Blake: Sins of the Pastor, Revisited.
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We have previously noted that there is at present some discussion on how much Senator Barack Obama is responsible for the words of one of his former clergy leaders. There was no such discussion in the past on how much President George H. W. Bush was responsible for the actions of one of his former clergy leaders. Additional details have developed.
Hillary Clinton has said "I think given all we have heard and seen, [Rev. Jeremiah Wright] would not have been my pastor" and "You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend." However, the pastor of the church she wants to attend has said it is a "grave injustice" criticize Wright based on "two or three sound bites," and spoke against the "use a few of [Wright's] quotes to polarize." Rev. Wright has the support of some homosexuals. Political correctness makes for the strangest of bedfellows. Whether it is an attempt to tap into political correctness or Christianity, the Clinton campaign is failing to motivate me to vote for her. Labels: christianity, theocracy
Rudyard Kipling: The Gods of the Copybook Headings
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[A search on google indicates that a copybook heading would have been understood by a reader in Kipling's time as something like an 'eternal truth.' The Gods of the Copybook Headings are those elemental gods that every school child knows cannot be overthrown. - Trevor Blake]
As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race, I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place. Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all. We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn: But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind, So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind. We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace, Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place, But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome. With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch, They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch; They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings; So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things. When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace. They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease. But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know." On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life (Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife) Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death." In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all, By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul; But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die." Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more. As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man There are only four things certain since Social Progress began. That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire, And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wobbling back to the Fire; And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins, As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn, The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.
Rationalist International: The Great Tantra Challenge
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 On 3 March 2008, in a popular TV show, Sanal Edamaruku, the president of Rationalist International, challenged India's most "powerful" tantrik (black magician) to demonstrate his powers on him. [...] India TV, one of India's major Hindi channels with national outreach, invited Sanal Edamaruku for a discussion on "Tantrik power versus Science". Pandit Surinder Sharma, who claims to be the tantrik of top politicians and is well known from his TV shows, represented the other side. During the discussion, the tantrik showed a small human shape of wheat flour dough, laid a thread around it like a noose and tightened it. He claimed that he was able to kill any person he wanted within three minutes by using black magic. Sanal challenged him to try and kill him. [Article continues at link. Oh, this is a good one. Thanks to technoccult for the link. - Trevor Blake] Labels: atheist, magick, television Trevor Blake: Sins of the Pastor
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There is at present some discussion on how much Senator Barack Obama is responsible for the words of one of his former clergy leaders. There was no such discussion in the past on how much President George H. W. Bush was responsible for the actions of one of his former clergy leaders.
Labels: christianity
Keith Lockitch: The Easter Masquerade
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In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII established our modern calendar and fixed the rules determining the date of Easter. This year Easter falls on March 23, but from year to year it can shift by as much as a month on the Gregorian calendar. Finding Easter's date for a given year requires a surprising degree of scientific acumen. The last things one might expect to see in, say, the Book of Common Prayer are tables of numbers and rules for mathematical calculations - but there they are, nevertheless.
At first glance, this seems to exemplify a kind of harmony between religion and science, a peaceful concord between faith and reason. Indeed, a variety of public figures - from prominent scientists to the Pope - have promoted the view that science and religion are not adversaries but complementary and mutually supporting fields. "Truth cannot contradict truth," they declare, implying that the truths discovered by reasoning from sensory evidence cannot clash with the "truths" of religious dogma. A closer look, however, reveals the long history of the hostility of faith towards reason - which continues to this day. Violent clashes between the two are not only possible but unavoidable, and the notion that religion can coexist on friendly terms with science and reason is false. [...] At first Copernicus's work was warmly accepted by Church officials - but only because they didn't take it seriously. Sixteenth century common sense held that the Sun orbits the Earth, which is motionless at the center of the universe. More important, Church scholars held that the true structure of the world is established not by science but by official interpretation of Scripture. Hence, they regarded the motion of the Earth as nothing more than a convenient mathematical assumption - an idea justified solely by its utility in making astronomical predictions. Thinking they could evade a clash between reason and revelation, they denied the reality of the Earth's motion but used the Copernican theory nonetheless. This contradiction became inescapable decades after the Gregorian reform when Galileo removed the objections from common sense by explaining the physics of the moving Earth. But the objections from faith proved more intractable. Galileo's outspoken defense of the Earth's motion as a serious physical idea forced Church leaders to take a stand - and when they got off the fence, they came down firmly against science. That the Church persecuted Galileo for defending Copernican theory is well-known. Less frequently acknowledged is the utter hypocrisy of that act: the Church persecuted Galileo for defending the very ideas on which its Easter reform depended. [Article continues at link.] Labels: christianity, science Trevor Blake: The Easter Challenge
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Ashbel S. Green: Appeals court dismisses sex abuse suit
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The Portland Archdiocese won a rare legal victory Wednesday when the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against two priests accused of sexually abusing a boy in the 1950s. The suit named the Rev. Clement Frank and the Rev. Louis Charvet, Mount Angel Abbey priests who are now dead.
The plaintiff claimed that after he fell down while roller-skating in Mount Angel in the early 1950s Frank happened to walk up, took him to a church and sexually assaulted him. The Court of Appeals ruled that the church cannot be held responsible because Frank did not use his position as a priest to gain access to the boy. [Article continues at link. The plaintiff was abused by a priest in a church, but because 'helping boys who fall off bicycles' is not specifically named as a duty of the clergy, this is considered an off-the-clock rape and the Roman Catholic Church is not responsible. Fair enough. Let's remove the Catholic's tax exempt status for all those activities not specifically named as a duty of the clergy. And for heaven's sake, don't bring up the fact that the Roman Catholic Church hid child abusers for decades on direct orders of the Pope. - Trevor Blake] Labels: christianity, theocracy
Western Resistance: UK Rapist Protected By Mosque Members
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Abdul Makim Khalisadar, aged 26, pleaded guilty to raping a woman at knifepoint and was jailed for 10 years. [...] At first Khalisadar said to police that there had been no rape and that the woman had consented to sex. Then he changed his story and said that he had been at East London Mosque. He said that he had been preaching there during Ramadan, giving a talk on the subject of repentance. He managed to get seven men from the mosque to give him a fake alibi, backing up his story that he had been at the mosque when he had been raping the woman. Last month, [the seven men] admitted lying to the police in their statements. They were sentenced on Monday to 12 months' jail for perverting the course of justice.
It appears that the reason which had brought Khanasadar to the attention of the police was his apparent involvement with former Al Muhajiroun member Kazi Nurur Rahman. Rahman was linked to the terrorists of Operation Crevice, and had been studied by police since July 2005. [...] While Khalisadar was under police investigation, he was arrested for downloading images of child abuse from the internet. As a result of this arrest, he was given a DNA test, which matched the sample from the woman's rape. Khanisadar was given a ten year jail sentence by Judge Timothy King, who condemned Khanisadar's "hypocrisy". He was given a seven and a half year sentence for the rape, with an additional two and a half years for perverting the course of justice. Somewhat surprisingly, in none of the news reports are there any comments from Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari condemning the activities of the seven males from the East London Mosque who plotted to support Khanisadar's lies. Nor is there any comment from Bari explaining how young people are allowed to be in the mosque at 3.30 am, and whether or not he claims any responsibility for allowing a young thug like Khanisadar to preach on mosque premises. The Sun states that on Monday, when the trial concluded, women wearing burkas in the courtroom's "public gallery yelled abuse at the judge - and one screamed that the victim was a prostitute." Eleven charges which were formerly brought against Khanisadar for possessing pictures of child abuse are not being pursued at present. [Article continues at link. When you have an invisible monster that lives in the sky on your side, anything you so or say is automatically right. When you want to cover up your buddy's rape, you can do it. When your buddy goes to prison, you can verbally abuse his victim. God-given certainty is the bedrock for all immorality, be it that of shameful superstitions such as Islam or the 'material concept of history' in socialism. I thank my lucky stars every day that I know how prone to error I am. - Trevor Blake]
Rukmini Callamachi: Defame Islam, get sued?
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The Muslim world has created a battle plan to defend its religion from political cartoonists and bigots. Concerned about what they see as a rise in the defamation of Islam, leaders of the world's Muslim nations are considering taking legal action against those that slight their religion or its sacred symbols. It was a key issue during a two-day summit that ended Friday in [Dakar, Senegal]. The Muslim leaders are attempting to demand redress from nations like Denmark, which allowed the publication of cartoons portraying the Prophet Muhammad in 2006 and again last month, to the fury of the Muslim world.
[Article continues at link. It is tempting to chide the leaders of the world's Muslim nations for their skewed priorities. Rather than express concern and make plans of action to prevent further murders in the name of Allah, they express concern and make plans of action to prevent further political cartoons. It is tempting to note the contradiction of these leaders seeking to limit other's ability to criticise them while maintaining their ability to criticise others. Or to point out the shameful contradiction found in some Muslims citing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a reason to ban art while not citing the same as a reason to stop killing people. But the more important comment to be made is that this is a step toward the secularization of Islam, and this is a step that I support. Their religion states quite clearly that they are compelled to kill those who blaspheme. This is what the Muslim world has always done, and what it does in many quarters even today. These leaders, as confused as their priorities are, have made a step towards the rule of secular law rather than theocracy. They have made a step toward resolving conflicts by debate and money rather than murder. Where Muslims submit to the secular, I greet them as a friend. - Trevor Blake] Trevor Blake: Download Alms for Jihad
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Wikipedia: "Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World is a 2006 book co-written by American authors J. Millard Burr, a former USAID relief coordinator in Sudan and Historian Robert O. Collins. [...] In August of 2007, the publisher, Cambridge University Press, removed the work from circulation under pressure from a libel action lawsuit filed against them in the British legal system by wealthy Saudi Khalid Salim A. Bin Mahfouz because the book accused him of funding al-Qaeda."
Google search for "alms for jihad download," or try The Pirate Bay here, or buy the audio-book version here, or try one of these downloads [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]. If you can't find this book after all that help, I don't know what I can do for you.
Robert Verkaik: Now Iranian lesbian who fled to Britain faces deportation
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[Pegah Emambakhsh,] an Iranian lesbian who fled to Britain after her girlfriend was arrested and sentenced to death faces being forcibly returned after losing the latest round in her battle to be granted asylum. [...] Ms Emambakhsh came to the UK in 2005 fearing for her life after her partner had been arrested by Tehran police. Iranian gay rights groups have reported that that partner is in custody under sentence of death by stoning. Speaking through her asylum representative in Sheffield yesterday, Ms Emambakhsh said: "I will never, never go back. If I do I know I will die." Under the Iranian Islamic Punishment Act, lesbians found guilty of sexual relations can be sentenced to 100 lashes. But, for a third offence, the punishment is execution. [...] In turning down Ms Emambakhsh and Mr Kazemi's asylum applications, the Home Office has said that, provided Iranians are discreet about their homosexuality, they will not be persecuted.
[Article continues at link. It is wrong to consider homosexual discretion to be the solution to threats against Ms. Emambakhsh. The problem is not homosexual indiscretion. The problem is Islam. Britain and the West should not join or accommodate this cruel and foolish superstition nor its apologists. Where are the tens of thousands of moderate Muslims marching in the streets to say such acts of barbarism are not done in their name? As Irshad Manji points out, those the West calls extremists are the majority in Islam. The reasons you see tens of thousands rioting and murdering against cartoons but remaining silent about real human lives in peril is because that's what Muslims do, that's who they are, and that's who we need to confront. In plain and direct terms. Islam must be secularized or abandoned. - Trevor Blake]
David Willey: Fewer confessions and new sins
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The Vatican has brought up to date the traditional seven deadly sins by adding seven modern mortal sins it claims are becoming prevalent in what it calls an era of "unstoppable globalisation". Those newly risking eternal punishment include drug pushers, the obscenely wealthy, and scientists who manipulate human genes. [...] In an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Archbishop Girotti said he thought the most dangerous areas for committing new types of sins lay in the fields of bio-ethics and ecology. He also named abortion and paedophilia as two of the greatest sins of our times. The archbishop brushed off cases of sexual violence against minors committed by priests as "exaggerations by the mass media aimed at discrediting the Church".
[Article continues at link. Now would be a perfect time for the Vatican to avoid eternal punishment and divest itself of its billions. And in the course of discrediting those mass media exaggerations about clergy sexual abuse of minors, the Vatican can admit that it knowingly hid them for decades as the official policy of the Roman Catholic Church. Admit it, then demonstrate that they have changed their ways. But in the real world the Vatican will hold on to its wealth, it will never confess to its role in sponsoring generations of child abuse, and (last but far from least) sin does not exist. - Trevor Blake.] Labels: christianity
Brenda Walker: Diversity of Women's Oppression Noted
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Today is International Women's Day and it is a fine occasion to observe how truly rotten many cultures are. In many places, the idea that women are people with rights, dignity and aspirations has made no inroads whatsoever. From the crude Burqastans across the Islamic world to the more genteel misogyny of upwardly mobile India and China, very little has changed for women in those societies; while in the West, women have been allowed to reach their potentials, and everyone benefits. Nothing illustrates the intellectual bankruptcy of the ideology of multiculturalism - the idea that all cultures are morally equal - than the actual lives that women lead in many of the third-word sewers we are supposed to celebrate.
[Article continues at link. See also the Ten Worst Countries for Women. - Trevor Blake]
Associated Press: Saudi's top cleric warns against giving money to al-Qaida linked charities
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Saudi Arabia's top religious authority warned Saudis against giving money to charities and organizations financing "evil" groups, a top local daily reported Saturday. The warning by Grand Mufti Sheik Abdul-Aziz Abdullah al-Sheikh comes just days after police found an audio from al-Qaida No.2 Ayman al-Zawahri, exhorting his followers to collect money for needy families in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"It is bad to give funds to just anyone who asks, and to parties with shabby reputations or unknown backing," the mufti said in a statement published in the daily al-Okaz, which is deemed close to the government. "It's even worse to give it to an organization that's known for its evil and for hurting Islam and its followers," he added in an apparent reference to al-Qaida, which has carried out attacks on foreigners in Saudi Arabia. [Article continues at link. All praise to those Muslims who seek to clean their own house before complaining about the disarray in another's house. - Trevor Blake] Labels: islam
NASAWatch: Blocking Access to Tools
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While some portions of NASA are paying close attention to how the real world is using the Internet, including the 9th floor at NASA Headquarters, other parts of the agency are hiding their heads in the sand. One notable example: JSC and DFRC are blocking access to Twitter. [...] Curiously, NASA has its own official Twitter feed. Why put something like this online and then block your own employees from seeing it? Typical NASA. [...] Someone I worked with at NASA in the early 1990's sent me this comment:
Q. What's the difference between NASA and Jurassic Park? A. One's an amusement park, filled with dinosaurs; the other one's a movie." Labels: communication, rockets, tools
Howard Hughes: Proper operating procedure for Bungalow 1 C Date October 13, 1958
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It is extremely important to me that nobody ever, under any circumstances, no matter what the emergency may be, no matter how extreme the emergency, no matter what pressures are put on, no matter how unusual the circumstances may be, goes into any room, closet, cabinet, drawer, or any other area which is either used by Johnny or indicated by Johnny to be reserved by him for my things in connection with my food operation or any other phase of my operation that Johnny takes care of. I want to make sure that nobody opens any doors to any rooms, closets, cabinets, drawers or in any way, touches any portion of these areas.
I say again, no matter how strong the emergency may be, no matter how extreme the emergency may be, no matter how unusual the circumstances may be, no matter how extreme the emergency, it is extremely important to me that nobody - nobody ever, ever goes into any room, closet, cabinet, drawer, bathroom, which is either used by Johnny or indicated by Johnny to be reserved for him, or which is used to store any of the things used in connection with my food, magazines or anything that is used for me. I say once more, no matter, no matter what the emergency, no matter how extreme the emergency, no matter how unusual the circumstances, it is extremely important to me; I say once more, no matter how extreme the emergency, no matter how unusual the circumstances may be, no matter what may have arisen, it is extremely important to me that nobody ever goes into any room, closet, cabinet, drawer, bathroom or any other area used to store any of the things which are for me - either food, equipment, magazines, paper supplies, Kleenex - no matter what. [Memo continues at link.] Labels: subgenius Trevor Blake: Ace Hayes
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I met Ace Hayes very, very briefly in the mid 1990s at one of his Secret Government Seminars at the Clinton Street Cinema. If we said more than a hello that conversation has been lost forever. But the SGS was memorable. Ace sat at a large folding table stacked at least one foot high with print outs, photocopies, manuscripts, notes and three-ring binders. In all this paperwork was his evidence for a conspiracy that controlled the world. Ace tended to remain in the realm of the unpleasant but credible, such as wealthy families controlling large industries which controlled corrupt governments which controlled the likes of you and I. His audience, however, included believers in hidden tunnels beneath local mental hospitals where ritual abuse and mind control experiments were taking place. Ace spoke first and at length, but was accommodating to audience members who wanted to speak about these more exotic topics afterwards. I admired his pro-mutant tendencies. Ace published the Portland Free Press newspaper and had a cable access television program. He died in 1998. His jaw-dropping collection of books has been scattered to the winds, but I know a secret underground bunker where some of his holdings are hidden away until the time is right. What I treasure the most from Ace is the following quote: "If you want to hide the truth, put it in a book."
Trevor Blake: Gary Gygax RIP
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Around 1978 my father read an article in Parade Magazine that mentioned the game Dungeons and Dragons. He thought that sounded interesting and bought a copy. I went on to spend a shameful amount of his money on the game and games inspired by it. Getting on thirty years later, I often think about fantasy role playing games. I don't make time to play them, but I think about them. The good memories of those games will be with me for the rest of my life. And so a late thank you to the late Gary Gygax for his role in bringing such games into being. From an interview in 2003...
Q. While many people have accused Dungeons & Dragons (and roleplaying games in general) of being "inspired by the devil," don't you feel that there is some correlation between ritual magic (adoption of roles, costumes, gathering in circles) and the standard AD&D game playing session? A. LOL. No. Frankly, I don't believe in magic. We all play roles - do you speak to a cop, your parents, your friends, your teacher, your boss, someone who works for you, etc., the same way? Of course not. People dress in costumes to go to parties and discos - to point out just a few such instances - and most people do not don costumes to play RPGs (as they do in live action RPGs). Playing any game, or having a meeting of a small number of people means "gathering in a circle." Trevor Blake: Music Recommendations
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The Cock N Bull Kid: [myspace] [video]
Mochipet: [myspace] [video] Time Served: streaming audio show hosted by Guy, J.Dub, Sharpshooter & Rapid MC on dnbradio.com. Tom Ellard: [past] [archive] [present] file2hd is an online tool useful for extracting audio files from myspace. downloadthemall is a Firefox plugin useful for downloading large amounts of audio from Web pages.
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