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Trevor Blake: Another Form of Expression [LINK-ZUM]

"All my life I have been acutely aware of a contradiction in the very nature of my existence. For forty-five years I struggled to resolve this dilemma by writing plays and novels. The more I wrote, the more I realized mere words were not enough. So I found another form of expression." - Yukio Mishima, in Paul Schrader's film Mishima. Collage by Trevor Blake.

Labels: books, fight, film, trevorblake

Randi Kaye: Atheist soldier sues Army for 'unconstitutional' discrimination [LINK-ZUM]

[Army Spc. Jeremy] Hall said he met some atheists who suggested he read the Bible again. After doing so, he said he had so many unanswered questions that he decided to become an atheist. His sudden lack of faith, he said, cost him his military career and put his life at risk. Hall said his life was threatened by other troops and the military assigned a full-time bodyguard to protect him out of fear for his safety. [...] Two years ago on Thanksgiving Day, after refusing to pray at his table, Hall said he was told to go sit somewhere else. In another incident, when he was nearly killed during an attack on his Humvee, he said another soldier asked him, "Do you believe in Jesus now?" [...] He also said he missed out on promotions because he is an atheist. "I was told because I can't put my personal beliefs aside and pray with troops I wouldn't make a good leader," Hall said.

[Article continues at link. I have a strong personal interest in soldier cults such as Sol Invictus, the Mithraic mysteries and (most recently and especially) the Tatenokai. But it should go without saying that what I am interested in and knowledgeable about are not necessarily what I consider good. I am dead against a Christian military in the United States (or anywhere else). Atheists should not need bodyguards. The military has much more important uses for its men and materials than providing bodyguards for atheists. Any religious discrimination in the military should be dealt with swiftly and harshly, including discrimination against the non-superstitious. And to the soldier who says surviving an attack is proof of Jesus I ask why Jesus caused / allowed that attack to occur in the first place. If Jesus can use Muslims practicing Islam to serve His purposes then there is no particular reason to value being a Christian over being a Muslim as they are working toward the same end. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: christianity, fight, islam, theocracy

CNN: Army does about-face on soldier couples in Iraq [LINK-ZUM]

In a historic but little-noticed change in policy, the Army is allowing scores of husband-and-wife soldiers to live and sleep together in the war zone -- a move aimed at preserving marriages, boosting morale and perhaps bolstering re-enlistment rates at a time when the military is struggling to fill its ranks five years into the fighting.

[Article continues at link. Keeping soldiers from having sex in a war zone is exactly and specifically why some have said the military needs to not have openly homosexual soldiers. So... what's the next excuse? - Trevor Blake]

Labels: fight, sex

Maged Thabet Al-Kholidy: There must be violence against women [LINK-ZUM]

This title may sound strange, but it's actually not just a way to attract readers to the topic because I really do mean what it indicates. Violence is a broad term, especially when used regarding women. In this piece, I want to shed light on those instances where violence against women is a must. [...] In some cases, violence is necessary, but there must be limits. Those "good human rights organizations" don't make any exceptions in their solutions because their aim is to serve society. Will it be a better society once we see wives, mothers, sisters and daughters going from one police station and one court to another, complaining against their husbands, fathers, brothers and even sons?

As the proverb goes, "If the speaker is mad, the listener should be mindful." This proverb is good advice for every man and woman not only to keep their ears open, but also to avoid the misleading propaganda of such organizations, whose surface aims hide other destructive ones to destroy society's religious, social and moral norms. This matter requires consideration.

[Article continues at link. Excellent commentary on this article here. 'Cultural sensitivity' and 'honoring diversity' toward Islam can start when Islam stops beating, mutilating and killing women. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: fight, islam, theocracy

Uppsala Universitet: Number of conflicts in the world no longer declining [LINK-ZUM]

The trend toward fewer conflicts reported by peace researchers since the early 1990s now seems to have been broken. [...] Since the most conflict-ridden years in the early 1990s, a continuous decline was registered up to 2002. Since that time the number has held steady at around 30 active armed conflicts per year. This is probably also the case for 2007. [...] The Middle East is the region in which peace initiatives are most clearly conspicuous in their absence. The central importance of the region for the world's oil supply and for world religions makes this serious.

[Article continues at link. There are some limited tools at our disposal to change our dependence on oil. Where appropriate, we should employ them and thereby lessen that specific cause of war. There are 100% effective tools at our disposal to change our dependence on religion. They are called atheism and secular humanism. If we fail to employ them and thereby lessen that specific cause of war, perhaps we are not deserving of peace. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: fight, science, theocracy

Trevor Blake: Three Theists and their E-Mail Decisions [LINK-ZUM]

Jihad Watch: "Allah Willing, thetime will come when flashes of fire will burn your belly to ash, your wife(your yahoodi whore) shall be a slave for the pleasure of the Al-Muslimoon. Inshallah, I will find yuo and killed you SOMEDAY YOU KUFFAR PIG, YOU SON OF THE APES AND THE SWINE ALLAH TA'ALLA SHALL ROAST YOUR ORGANS FOR THE PLEASURE OF THE MUSLIMS YOU SCUM FILTHEIR THNA THE COCKROACH, YOU K A F I R"

Dan Savage, Another Day, Another Dozen Stories Like This: "A day doesn't go by without an email arriving from some fundie douche expressing concern for my son's immortal soul."

Associated Press, Teen Held After Threat Sent to Satanists: "A teenager was arrested after a leader of the Church of Satan turned over to the FBI an e-mail the high school student had written to the sect in which he threatened to kill his grandparents, authorities said."

[All articles continue at links. A tip of the hat to Magus Peter H. Gilmore, High Priest of the Church of Satan, for making the unfortunately necessary and responsible choice. - Trevor]

Labels: fight, islam, religion, satanism, sex

Judith Kohler: Security Guard Prayed for Divine Guidance Before Shooting Gunman [LINK-ZUM]

Jeanne Assam is hailed for saving countless lives in shooting a gunman outside her church, but the volunteer security guard insisted that her steady hand was a matter of divine guidance. [...] "It seemed like it was me, the gunman and God," said Assam, whose hands trembled a little as she recounted the shooting during a news conference Monday.

[Article continues at link. If God was there, why didn't God do anything about the gunman? Why didn't God do something about the gunman before the gunman became the gunman? Why didn't God keep those people who were shot and killed alive? If God is the creator of all things, doesn't that mean God made the gun, God made the bullets, God put those bullets in the gun, God put that gun in the gunman's hand, and God gave the gunman a steady hand as a matter of divine guidance? Why is God using some of us to kill others of us? What 'lesson' did the dead people learn? Are their lives less than ours, such that they can be sacrificed so we who survive can learn a lesson? These are the sorts of questions that reveal how morally bankrupt theism is. "God did it" is embarrassing to hear in the 21st Century. All sympathy to the families and friends who lost loved ones in this terrible incident. Maybe if God wasn't around, we'd kill each other a little less. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: christianity, fight

Trevor Blake: Ten Thousand [LINK-ZUM]

Ten thousand people marched through Oaxaca City to protest the APPO. Ten thousand people celebrated those who have left the Communist Party in Taiwan. Ten thousand people spelled out words with their bodies to support Falun Gong. Ten thousand people met to appreciate wind power.

Many of these links have pictures, to help you get a better idea of what ten thousand people look like. Now take that mental image and replace all those people with dead bodies. Ten thousand people have been killed by Muslims in the past six years. These men, women and children were not killed in self-defence, nor were they killed in the heat of the moment, nor were they killed for money, nor were they killed in war. Ten thousand people have been killed by Muslims in the past six years as human sacrifices, as part of the religion of Islam, as Muslims submitting to the invisible monster that lives in the sky.

Well over ten thousand Muslims rioted in the streets when a newspaper published drawings of Muhammad. When will we see ten thousand Muslims stand up and say that the killings done in their name have no place in the Twenty-First Century? There are glimmers of hope that Islam can become secular, as have Christianity and Judaism. See Irshad Manji and The Institution for the Secularization of Islamic Society. Learn more about Islam than most Muslims know, by reading the Quran and keeping up on what the religion of peace is doing in the real world.

Labels: fight, islam, theocracy

Chestnut Tree Cafe: George Orwell FAQ [LINK-ZUM]

Did George Orwell ever say: "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf?" Or: "We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us?"

Not exactly. But he did make comments that were along similar lines. In his essay on Rudyard Kipling (1942), Orwell wrote: "[Kipling] sees clearly that men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilised, are there to guard and feed them." And in his Notes on Nationalism (1945) he wrote: "Those who 'abjure' violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf." Where the rough men crept in is anyone's guess.

[FAQ continues at link.]

Labels: biographic, books, fight

Trevor Blake: Peaceful Protest after Amsterdam attacks [LINK-ZUM]

Police in the Dutch city of Amsterdam say several peaceful protests were held in the sixth night of memorials after officers shot a Moroccan man dead. The 22-year old was killed after entering a police station where he stabbed two police officers. Eleven 'not in our name' protests have been held this week in the Slotervaart district of Amsterdam, which is mainly populated by immigrants. Police said that a group of about 35 young people were behind the honoring of the attacked police officers.

"There is a lot of police in the streets. This is the work of a majority who take don't want the violence of extremists associated with their religion of peace," said a spokesman. The dead Moroccan man, identified as Bilal B, had been receiving treatment for psychiatric problems. He had been questioned over contact with Islamic extremists who were linked to the murder of film maker Theo van Gogh in 2004. About 1m of the Netherlands' 16m population are Muslims.

[None of the above actually happened. The actual article is to be found at link. Muslims are willing to kill each other and anyone else all day every day over perceived insults from non-Muslims, but they are largely silent when it comes time to be accountable for their own actions. What would the world be like if just as many Muslims peacefully marched in the street saying that 9/11 was not done in their name as there are Muslims killing people over comics and movies? Do Muslims march for peace, ever, anywhere? - Trevor Blake]

Labels: 9/11, comic, fight, film, islam

Trevor Blake: President Bush Violates Executive Order 12333 2.11 and 2.12 [LINK-ZUM]

On February 22, 2003, President George W. Bush met with President Jose Maria Aznar of Spain at President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Information about that meeting is is now online [article] [transcript]. Some excerpts, translated by way of Metafilter:

Bush: "I prefer the 10th. This is like good cop, bad cop. To me, it doesn't matter who is the bad cop and that Blair be the good cop."
Aznar: "Is it true that there's a possibility for Saddam to be exiled?"
Bush: "Yes, it's a possibility. Also that he be assassinated."

Executive Order 12333 2.11 Prohibition on Assassination: No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.
Executive Order 12333 2.12 Indirect Participation: No agency of the Intelligence Community shall participate in or request any person to undertake activities forbidden by this Order.

Just in case all the other arguments for the impeachment and war crimes trial of President Bush fail, here's another one.

In no way is it difficult to determine that George Bush considers himself not subject to the Constitution of the United States. Why is it that most Americans are not up in (metaphorical) arms that the rule of law has been suspended in our country? Where is the 'class consciousness' the left speaks of, the mechanism that is activated by oppression and that causes oppressed groups to act in their own best interest, not in the interest of their oppressors?

Labels: fascism, fight

Shockwave: Jeremy Hall threatened with "fragging" in Iraq [LINK-ZUM]

Atheist whistle blower Army Specialist Jeremy Hall has become the target of despicable threats by Dominionist Christians in his own unit. An Army specialist stationed in Iraq said he has been repeatedly threatened by other US soldiers after word spread that he sued the secretary of defense and an Army major this week for allegedly retaliating against the soldier when he convened a meeting of atheists.

[Article continues at link. I hope that Specialist Hall received the full support of the governmnt founded on a secular Constitution which he has sworn to defend. I suggest it is important to not feed the 'good Christian / bad Christian' meme. By specifying these were 'Dominionist Christians,' Shockwave leaves an out for the 'good Christians' who would never do such a thing. Here are my problems with that claim. First, it takes a majority of 'good Christians' to tolerate the Dominionists. If the majority made it clear that the Dominionists were not welcome to keep using the Xtian brand name then they would disappear overnight. The 'good Christians' don't clean house, and I refuse to do their work for them. Second, the Christians threatening Specialist Hall are failing their Christian duty only by not killing him. Romans 13:1 claims the powers that be (Specialist Hall's superior officers, for instance) are ordained by God and to rebel against them is as sinful as rebelling against God. Psalms 14:1 claims atheists are fools and can do no good deed. Leviticus 24:16 claims anyone who blasphemes should be put to death. Matthew 5:18 quotes Jesus Christ claiming that 'the commandments' (the Old Testament) is eternal law. Well, maybe that's a little harsh. Mark 16:16 just claims atheists are damned, and Malachi 2:3 claims that atheists should have dung spread on our faces. So unless Specialist Hall's fellow soldiers are at least damning him and spreading dung on his face, they are slackers in the eyes of the Lord. Don't criticize the 'bad Christians.' Criticize Christianity. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: atheist, christianity, fight, theocracy

Science Daily: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors [LINK-ZUM]

In the last century, more than 100 million people have perished in violent conflict, very often because of local clashes between ethnically or culturally distinct groups. In a novel study recently in Science, researchers report on a mathematical model that can predict where ethnic conflict will erupt. The study, conducted by scientists at the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) and Brandeis University, can be applied to many areas and its predictions were tested on distinct ethnic groups in India and the former Yugoslavia. The researchers applied a model of global pattern formation that differentiates regions by culture. They discovered that heterogeneous areas with poorly- defined boundaries were prone to ethnic conflict.

The research asserts that in highly mixed regions, groups of the same type are not large enough to sway collective behavior toward claiming any particular public space; likewise, well-segregated groups are protected by clear boundaries identifying their space. However, the study concludes that "partial separation with poorly defined boundaries fosters conflict."

[Article continues at link. When this article speaks of being of the same type or being of a well-segregated group, what does that mean? If we can judge people as individuals, perhaps battling over the shifting turf of who we are in groups might occur less. Who we are as part of a group has cultural weight, but sometimes that weight has a high cost and low return. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: fight, race, science

Trevor Blake: Olympic Security [LINK-ZUM]

The Olympics are underway in Greece. All the world can watch the events in real time online, except in the United States. And during a rehearsal of the opening ceremonies, the half-full stadium booed the United States. We just can't get a break! The policing at this Olympics is unprecedented, with constant surveillance above and pee testing below. Why? Religious people might try to harm others at this event.

Of course we all read quite a bit about Islam being troublesome in this regard, but history shows that it is Christianity that spawns Olympic terrorists. The problem is Christians like Eric Rudolph, who in 1996 detonated a bomb for Jesus at the Atlanta Olympics (killing one and injuring over 100). He went on to attempt to blow up a lesbian bar (the bombs didn't detonate) in 1997, and successfully bombed the New Woman All Women Clinic (killing one and wounding another) in 1998. Rudolph wasn't captured by the police until 2003 - what happened between 1998 and 2003? Why, Rudolph's brothers and sisters in the Lord were hiding him so that he could keep up his good work. Even when he was captured, local coffee shops displayed fan posters and he signed his wanted poster for the local sheriff, just like a rock star. His hiding place is now a tourist spot. There are seven people policing the Olympics for every one athlete competing this year, at a cost of US$312 million. But how many articles have you seen on the real history of religious terrorism at the Olympics? And for all the money that has been spent on alleged Islamic terrorist cells in the USA, why has there been so little effort to root out this existing Christian terrorist cell? [American Samizdat, August 15, 2004]

Labels: christianity, fight, islam, theocracy